Firsts
by SuperHeroFan82
Summary: This is just a cute story about several of the turtles firsts in life... its a turtle tot story. In this story only Raphael is the oldest brother. The Story will continue by popular demand! I have chapter 32 ready to roll.
1. First Word

**First word**

**A/N: **this idea just came to me about how the turtle's first experienced the world from toddlers to pre-teens.

**Summary:** the turtle's first words are recognized in this chapter.

**Disclaimer: **don't own them sorry!

**A/N:** Fixed Errors

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**_Takes place just weeks after the turtle's mutation..._**

Splinter was up once again with his adopted son, he couldn't understand why this young one was up so often during the night. He paced the floor rocking the small infant as he cried, Splinter had been able to find a little food and store it but the tiny turtle's were growing and he needed to find more food. He knew that must be what was wrong with this little one, he must be hungry.

Splinter walked into the kitchen with his son and tried to find something to console him, he found in their makeshift cooler/refrigerator a partial carton of milk. He would have to go topside and get more in the morning while the little ones took their morning nap. He poured the rest of the milk into a bottle and put it into the tiny turtle's mouth.

The hungry little boy sucked hungrily on the bottle, Splinter walked back into the boy's room and looked at the rest of the tiny turtles. The little one in his arms began to fall asleep, Splinter knew the others could wake up at any time also wanting to eat. He had gotten a discarded mattress for the little ones to sleep on for now, he laid the now sleeping turtle next to his brothers and slipped out of the room. He went back to the kitchen and found nothing left, if the others were to wake and he knew they would, he would have to go out now and find more.

Splinter checked on the babies one more time before leaving the lair and in search for food, he was putting on his coat when he felt a tug on his trench coat looking down he saw one of his young sons at his feet. Splinter smiled but was at the same time worried, how did this little one crawl out of his room with out alerting his brothers?

He once again checked on the other three only to find them still sleeping, he had yet to name them but he didn't know how to really tell them apart except for their personalities they already possessed and eye color. This one before him now was his curious one, always closely examining things. He picked up the little one and said softly "i cant leave with you awake, so I guess your going with me."

Splinter had sewn a pouch on his trench coat so that if he needed to take one or more of the little ones he could. He put his small son in the pouch and headed out of the lair as quietly as possible. He could feel the small boy moving around slightly, he whispered to him "its OK little one, we are going to get some food." this seemed to settle the little one down he got to a ladder and climbed up to the surface, he hid behind a dumpster near by as some teenagers walked by joking and laughing.

After they passed, Splinter looked to see if there was anything in the dumpster he was next to, he found nothing that could be of use. Quietly he slipped down an ally and found a grocery store, he could tell by the way the lid was standing a little that it was full. Splinter pushed the lid up and saw food, his small turtles could eat some solid food but it couldn't be to hard for them to chew. He reached inside and pulled out some cereal, it was expired but not by anymore then just one day or two. He put one box in his gathering bag and reached back in, he found a carton of milk in there as well.

He put it in his bag, he could feel his son squirming in the pouch, he didn't realize the way he was standing that he was placing his son between him and the dumpster. He reached inside the pouch and picked his son up, he said to him softly "sorry little one, I didn't mean to squish you."

He put his son down next to his feet and then said to him "little one if you can understand me, stay at my side, don't move." the little turtle looked up at his father and nodded. Splinter smiled, he couldn't believe how intelligent this little turtle was, he hoisted himself up and over the rim and found more food that was salvageable.

He began to put the food into his bag, he even found bottled water. He could hear his son begin to fuss, he peaked over the edge and saw him looking up with frightened eyes. Climbing out of the dumpster he knelt down and said softly "what is it little one?" he looked around and saw the source of his son's fear, a dog was sniffing around a near by trash can. He picked his son up and held him close the large animal began to turn around to them smelling food. Splinter moved silently and quickly as possible he saw a shed near by and slipped in the door, he could hear the dog coming closer.

The little turtle in his arms was silent, surprisingly, Splinter placed him back in the pouch and found a metal rod he could use if he had to defend them. Splinter saw another door and went for it, and slipped out and ran full speed back to the dumpster, jumping high as to not have his son hit the edge he jumped in and closed the lid on them. He could hear the barking of the dog just outside, he found some stale meat and lifted the lid slightly and threw it out to the dog.

He found more and threw it out as well, after a few moments he didn't hear anymore movement, he opened the lid and saw that the dog had left. He propped the lid open so he could see by moonlight and gathered more food from the dumpster. He got more milk, fruit, and vegetables for his sons, he climbed out and headed back home.

Once he located the manhole that he had first come threw he headed for it, but was stopped by sounds of movement. He looked and saw some thugs by the dumpster, "hey mack, how much money you got?"

Splinter backed up, the men approached him he could feel his son squirm again, he wondered if these men would hurt him if they new there was a baby involved. Splinter reached into his pouch and took the cracker he had found and given his hungry son away. The reaction was immediate the little one began to cry, the men looked at him strangely and said to each other "i ain't mugging no one with a baby! That just ain't right, lets get out of here."

Splinter gave his son back the cracker and watched the men slowly leave, walking back to the manhole he opened it. He was half way home when the small turtle tried to climb out of his pouch, Splinter looked down and said "no son, stay down."

The little one made some noises and then stuttered "d-d-d-daddy."

Splinter froze in his tracks he picked the baby up out of the pouch and said to him "you said your first word?"

The little one smiled at him, Splinter held him close, he couldn't believe one of the tiny turtles had spoken, and they were only a few weeks into being mutated.

Arriving home he put the food away, and gave his son another cracker, he watched the little turtle eat happily. He went to the shelf he had built that had a few books on it he pulled out a renaissance art book and flipped threw the pages, he found on two pages four names. He looked toward his son and started to say the names as if the little one would pick one; he first said "Leonardo."

Nothing the little turtle didn't even turn his head, then he tried the next one "Michelangelo?" still the little one didn't turn around but kept eating his cracker, trying again "Raphael."

He noticed the little one shift but didn't turn... there was only one name left on the page "Donatello." the little turtle turned around and smiled at him, Splinter put the book down and picked up the little one and said "OK then I will call you Donatello, I would say you like that name." just then there was movement. across the room and the littlest turtle crawled out of there room, it was the same little one he had been feeding only a couple hours ago Donatello pointed and looked at his father then to his little brother and said "Mi- Mi- Mi..."

Donatello frowned as he was unable to pronounce the name Splinter smiled and said "are you trying to say Michelangelo?" the turtle on the floor stopped crawling and looked up at his father and brother and smiled. Splinter put his son down and walked into the other room to check on the other two, he saw one of the little ones was awake and was playing with his sleeping brother's hand trying to wake him up as well.

The sleeping turtle woke up and began to grunt and it looked as though he was getting mad quickly, he noticed this one had quite a temper. He picked up the first to wake and said to him "now you shouldn't anger your brother little one, now lets see what should I call you?"

The small baby was playing with his Kimono and looked at him expectantly, Splinter smiled at him "well how about Raphael?" the little turtle scrunched up his face and shook his head, he could understand him just as Donatello had, "OK then how about Leonardo?"

The little turtle hugged his father and smiled happily, he looked down at his angry turtle and said "then that leaves the final name for you young one, Raphael." the turtle on the mattress looked up at him and grinned." he wondered to him self how these four little turtles could have chosen their names. But he knew they were all intelligent, he wondered if more of them would start to speak?

Months passed and Donatello was talking more, the others didn't follow just yet, Splinter had kept going back to the same store that he and Donatello had visited back when he was only a few weeks old. Now the turtles were around 8 or 9 months old he watched as they were much more active now, he noticed that Donatello and Michelangelo were sitting across from each other they had both been playing with the same toy but now he saw Donatello looking seriously at his little brother and said to him "toy, say toy."

Michelangelo looked at him curiously and made the T sound a few times but couldn't do what his older brother said to do. Leonardo and Raphael were sitting near by watching them, Raphael started to make the T sound as well, Leonardo just looked between them.

Donatello noticed their father watching and said "Dada no speak?" he knelt down to his young son and said "no my son, they do not speak yet. You are being such a good teacher, you are trying hard. Michelangelo and Raphael may speak soon at the rate your going."

Donatello looked back at his brother and said "Mike say toy?"

Michelangelo looked questioningly at his older brother "t-t-t." the little one looked so frustrated, Raphael looked at the two and tried again "t-to-to-to-y. Toy." Donatello clapped his hands and said "good Raphie! Dada he said Toy!"

Splinter was still knelt down and said "good job Raphael." Raphael repeated the word over and over again, Leonardo looked at his younger brother questioningly then back down at the toy.

A few more weeks had passed Raphael had learned a few more words since he first learned to talk. Leonardo and Michelangelo were asleep in bed when Raphael woke them up "brodders wake up." the two looked up at him but didn't speak, "Leo, say Raph."

Leonardo looked at him and started to make the R sound Mikey looked at his older brother and made the R sound as well. Donatello woke up at the sound of his brothers and said to them "say Donnie..." the two non speaking turtles looked at the other two, Mikey stuttered "D-D-D-D-Don-Don..."

Donatello clapped and said "good! You say it!"

Splinter had been woken at the sound of his sons and walked in just as Michelangelo spoke, "my son you said your first word as well! Great job."

Michelangelo looked happy with him self and they all turned to the final turtle who had not yet learned to speak. Weeks passed and Leonardo had not yet spoken, Splinter couldn't understand why the other three could speak and Leonardo couldn't yet. Another few months went by and their first birthdays were approaching, Splinter choose four different dates for their birthdays based on their maturity Raphael was first up and had his birthday on July first, Leonardo July second, Donatello July 7 and Michelangelo July 8.

Splinter did research on turtle's hatching and it is rare for a nest of turtles to all hatch on the same day so he thought up four different dates to resemble their hatch dates, he didn't know if he was any where close to right but he did it anyway. On the forth of July just two days after his birthday Leonardo was holding onto the edge of the couch and walking and saw his father sitting down reading Raphael and Michelangelo a story.

Holding on he walked over to his brothers and Splinter he stuttered but said "R-R-R-Ra-Ra." Splinter put the book down and looked at his son, Leonardo was pointing to his older brother after a few more moments Leonardo tried again "Ra-Ra-Rap!Rap!"

Splinter smiled, he said to his son "its Raphael my son but good try. I am proud of you."

Leo looked up at his father with a smile and pointed once again to his brother "Rap! Raph!" Splinter heard the h at the end of it that time and said "great job my son." he was happy now that his sons had learned to talk, he knew with they way they all held on to objects that they would soon be mobile.

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**A/N: so what did ya think? It was fun writing this, I thought of the dates for the turtles birthdays being in the middle of summer. And I have always thought about how Raphael is bigger then the other turtles that he may actually be older then Leonardo so I put him as the oldest. Be ready for the next chapter as the turtles become more mobile and Splinter will have his hands full!**


	2. First Steps

**First Steps**

**A/N: Chapter two is here guys! The little turtles are now becoming mobile. Set when they are almost 2 years old.**

**Summary: it had been several months since they started talking, Splinter noticed how one of his turtles was becoming more brave and let go of the table more often making attempts at walking...**

**A/N2: **I fixed errors in this chapter as well.

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It had been a while since the young turtles began talking, Splinter watched as the little ones crawled about talking to each other to some what. He was sitting in an old warn out chair and watched as Raphael had stood once more at the base of the stairs the, concrete was cold and damp making it difficult for the little one to get a good foot hold on the ground.

Splinter watched as his oldest son tried once again to take a step away from the stairs moving one step he fell down again. He had been trying for over an hour, Leonardo crawled over to his brother and sat up looking at him he said "Raphie fall down?"

Raphael looked over at him and said "yea, me fall I try again."

Raphael stood up again holding onto the step again, Leonardo watched his brother in fascination then he took hold of the step himself and stood up with his brother. Splinter wondered if they both would start walking at the same time, Raphael took his brother's hand and took a step out Leonardo's legs couldn't hold him up any longer and he went down but not before releasing his brother's hand.

Raphael stood still, looking down at his brother, Splinter felt it in his heart he knew this was the moment of truth it was now or never for this little one. He got up and walked near the two turtles, Raphael looked at his father and said "i do it daddy." Raphael proceeded to take another shaky step towards his father, his arms flapped slightly as he tried to keep his balance after a second he regained it and took another step.

Raphael managed to keep his balance long enough to walk around 5 to 6 feet from his starting point. His tired legs gave out and he began to fall but he fell into his father's arms, "great job my son, you did well." Raphael looked up at his father and said "will Leo walk too?"

"some day my son, some day."

Leonardo meanwhile was standing once again at the step, Splinter wondered if his son was going to walk just moments after his brother, but he could tell that Leonardo's legs were not strong enough yet to support him. Splinter smiled at his son's efforts and said "Leonardo, it takes patience my son, you will walk soon enough." Raphael smiled at his younger brother and said "yea, Leo walk soon."

As the weeks went by Splinter had fun trying to keep up with a very energetic Raphael who now has learned running was the fastest mode of getting places. The other three turtles watched him in amazement, Donatello and Michelangelo both began following Leonardo with holding onto objects and moving about their home.

Donatello got back on all fours and crawled to the kitchen where his father was and said "hi daddy. What doing?"

Splinter looked down at his son and said "i am trying to fix the sink so we can have running water."

"is it working?"

"not yet but I'm working on it."

Donatello took hold of the kitchen table leg at watched his father in fascination Splinter noticed his son was making attempts to see what he was doing. Turning he picked up his young son and put him up on the newly built counter top next to him, several moments passed and he could hear crying coming from the next room he bolted from the room and ran to the living room to find Leonardo crying on the floor "what happened my son?"

Raph ran up to them and said "he tried to walk daddy. He hit his head on the floor hard."

Splinter picked his crying son up and held him, then he remembered he had left one child on the counter, still holding Leonardo he went back to the kitchen to find Donatello waiting patiently for his father to return he lifted his son up with his free arm and placed him on the ground. He took note that instead of dropping to the ground like he normally did he stiffened his legs to stand.

Splinter set Leonardo down on the counter and checked him over, all seemed fine and he said softly "its OK my son, be patient."

Leonardo looked up to him and said "don't wanna be last one."

"you don't want to be injured either my son." he put Leonardo down next to Donatello who was still standing up looking down at his sitting brother Donatello extended his hand to him Leonardo took it and with help stood up. Leonardo was extremely off balance but with Donatello's help he kept his balance this time, Splinter watched this in wonder, Donatello put his hand on the cabinet door as he gently pulled Leonardo towards him slightly making him take a step.

Raphael came into the kitchen to check on his brother, he saw Donatello and said "come on Leo you can do it!"

Leonardo twisted around to look at his older brother, Michelangelo crawled into the kitchen as well, Donatello looked from their youngest brother to his older brother and hand an idea "Mike, come here."

Michelangelo smiled happily and crawled over to his brothers, once he was beside Leonardo's left side Donatello said to him "Leo, put your hand on Mike's shell." Splinter was dumbfounded by what he was seeing Raphael walked over as well and said to his younger brother "its OK Leo let go of Donnie." looking at his older brother he did as told he could feel his legs buckle Raphael could see his brother start to fall backwards and put his hand on his shell. "not this time." was all he said. Leonardo looked back at him then looked forward and while Michelangelo inched forward Leonardo followed slowly.

After a couple of feet Raphael walked up to him and took his hand again, "let go of Mikey." Leonardo looked into his brother's eyes "trust me little brother I wont let you fall."

Letting go of his brother Raphael began to walk with him, Donatello stood at the cabinet still and Michelangelo sat up watching, Splinter watched in amazement. Splinter walked around the table and stood several feet from the two walking turtles, Raphael told his little brother.

"OK now walk on your own."

Leonardo looked at him "i cant."

"oh yes you can."

Leonardo looked at his father then to his brother Splinter said to him "come Leonardo, it is OK." taking a shaky step Leonardo began to take steps with out assistants Raphael smiled proudly at his brother as he walked to their father, Splinter caught Leonardo just as his legs gave out "very good Leonardo, I am proud of you my son." in the week following Leonardo walking Splinter noticed Donatello was beginning to become braver, he would take a step from the table to a chair.

One day after dinner time Splinter was trying to round up his sons for nap time when out of the corner of his eye Donatello was holding onto the couch. Splinter was holding onto Raphael and Leonardo as the two were now refusing to take naps, he put the two back in their room again and came back just as he saw Donatello let go of the couch and took off. His steps were not as shaky as Leonardo's had been, he walked confidently towards his father, Splinter opened his arms and held him as Donatello walked to him "very good my son, I knew it wouldn't be long before you would start walking."

About a month passed and three of the turtles were mobile, oh how Splinter missed when they were just crawling, he still had one son left that was not yet walking. The little turtles were listening to Splinter read to them one morning when Michelangelo slipped of the couch and landed on his feet, leaning forward he took hold of the table Splinter stopped reading and looked at him.

"are we feeling brave my son?" the remaining three stared on in amazement as little Michelangelo held on to the table and walked to the farthest end away from every one, walking around the table Michelangelo let go and tried to steady him self.

Splinter got down on the floor several feet back and waited, he knew his youngest was ready, Michelangelo laughed happily as he took a step with out holding on, "daddy I walk too! Big boy like brodders!" taking more steps Michelangelo walked into his father's open arms and giggled excitedly and said "i do it daddy! I a big boy now!"

Splinter laughed and held his son close "in deed you are my son." Splinter enjoyed the moments that he had witnessed over the past few months as his sons began walking. Now he could start teaching them the ways of the ninja, he was already teaching them patience now came the rest...

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**A/N: hope you enjoyed this one, I thought about doing a potty training chapter but I decided against it and am going to do different firsts for the turtles. Stay tuned as they begin their ninja training, I wonder who is going to catch on first with this one?**


	3. First Illness

**First illness**

**Disclaimer: Still don't own anything!**

**A/N:** I fixed the errors in this chapter as well.**  
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It has been two years since the turtles had started walking, Splinter smiled proudly at them as they now ran and played about the lair. Now being nearly four years old he began their training, Leonardo showed much promise as he caught on fast to everything Splinter taught them. After morning practice the young turtles went about their playtime, Raphael and Leonardo played quietly with a puzzle of a litter of kittens while Donatello and Michelangelo played catch with a ball that Splinter found.

Splinter sat in his chair reading when he could hear light coughing coming from behind him, turning he saw Leonardo cover his mouth.

He said "my son, are you alright?"

Leonardo looked over at his father and said "yes daddy, I'm OK."

Splinter frowned and went back to reading, Raphael looked at his brother and asked "are you sure your OK?"

looking at his brother he said "I am fine Raphie, lets finish this picture." frowning they continued working on their puzzle, after another twenty minutes went by Leonardo started coughing again this time he drew the attention of his entire family.

Splinter rushed to his side when his son wouldn't stop coughing, "Leonardo! My son." picking the small toddler up he could feel his son struggling to catch his breath as the coughing grew harder.

After nearly a minute it subsided and Splinter said "are you alright?"

Leonardo told him in a weak voice "i don't feel so good... my chest hurts..." Splinter put his hand on Leonardo's plastron and could feel rattling in his chest, he stood with his son and went to his room with him. Placing his son on his bed Splinter went to his medical box, he had raided an old hospital that had shut down a while back and found some things that were useful.

He found a stethoscope, putting the earpieces in place he listened to his son's breathing. It was shallow and he could hear fluid building up, "my son, you are very ill, why did you not tell me you were sick?"

Shrugging Leonardo told him "i don't know." shaking his head Splinter took his son and felt his head, a temperature. He knew something was wrong with his child but he didn't know what, when Splinter was human he knew a little about medicines and healing but not much. Leonardo began to cough again, Splinter held him close to his chest as the coughing wracked through out the small boy's body.

It pained him to see his child so uncomfortable, tears streamed down Leonardo's face as the coughing continued. After nearly a minute this time it subsided, Splinter took Leonardo to the child's room and laid him down in the bed. Leonardo took his large hand in his and said "daddy... don't leave..."

Splinter looked down at him and said "my son, I must go retrieve some medicine to help you." Leonardo nodded as his father let go of his hand, his brothers were in the doorway looking inside "OK Leo?" was what Michelangelo asked, Leonardo looked at his youngest brother and told him "no, I don't feel good." "why?"

"I just don't Mikey."

"but, why?"

Raph smacked him upside the head and said "stop it Mikey! He feels bad leave him alone."

Donnie walked up to his oldest brother and felt his head, "wow Leo your hot!"

"yea and my chest hurts too..."

Donnie looked at the stethoscope and then to Leo, "did Splinter use this to listen to you?" when Leonardo nodded Donatello picked up the stethoscope and put it up to his ears and then put the round part on Leo's plastron and listened. "wow, Leo... I bet you got something in there?" Leo took the stethoscope away from him and said "no kidding..." and once again he started coughing again, Raphael left the room and went to the kitchen "Master Splinter? Can I have a cup of water?"

Splinter was making an herbal tea for Leonardo that would help him, looking into his eldest son's eyes he saw pure concern for his younger brother. "yes my son." he filled a cup half way and handed it to Raphael, the small child looked into it and said "there's not enough?" with a knowing smile Splinter told his son "i know you wont walk slowly with a full cup my son."

"yes I will! I promise."

Splinter took the cup again and filled it the rest of the way, he watched as Raphael walked slowly out of the room with the cup in hand. "at least he is trying..." Raphael got to his brother's room seeing Leo laying there sick made him sad, walking up beside the bed he told his brother "here, drink this."

Leo sat up and gratefully took a drink of cool water, he tried to drink slowly but he started to cough again. Splinter walked in just then and said "oh Leonardo, my little one, here, this tea should help you feel better and sleep."

Leonardo accepted the tea and took a small drink, it tasted nasty but he knew he should drink it. After it was gone Leonardo laid back down, Splinter turned to his other three turtles "boys, would you please go to the living room, your brother needs to rest."

Mikey stood there in place and said "but I wanna stay with my broder!"

"no Michelangelo, I do not wish for you to catch this too."

Raphael told him "i don't wanna go either Master Splinter."

Donatello was the only other turtle not to defy Splinter's wishes, but he rather said "Sensei, can... can I stay and help you take care of him?" Splinter knew Donatello meant well but if he were to let him stay then the other two would want to stay as well. Smiling gently at his son he said "i am sorry Donatello, maybe when he is a little better, now will the three of you please go to the other room."

They all looked down and began to walk out of the room, Leonardo felt his eye lids drop as he watched his brothers leave the room.

As the days went on Leonardo was slowly getting better, the other turtles had fun helping to care for Leonardo. Michelangelo would entertain him with jokes, Raphael would keep him company and Donatello brought him books. Splinter noticed how well his young boys got along, but as soon as their ninja training picked up he wondered if they would remain getting along or if they would begin to fight each other?

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**A/N: sorry for the short chapter, the next chapter will have two firsts rolled into one! **

**Thank you mistystar123 for the ideas for the 4th chapter! If any one else has any great ideas let me know! :)**


	4. First Sibling Rivalry

**First bad word, and First Sibling Rivalry**

**A/N: I am glad that so many people like this story! I would first like to thank mistystar123 for contributing to this story and giving me good ideas. The first part of the chapter was 2 of mistystar123's ideas the second part was my own. If any one else has a great idea for a first let me know!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own the turtles nor do I own the next karate kid!**

**A/N2**: I fixed some errors I found.

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**_First Sparring match..._**

The turtles were now 5 years old, they were learning fast in their ninja training but non as fast as Leonardo, Raphael noticed all too well that his brother got a lot more praise then he or the other two did. They had been training for two years now, and Leonardo could learn a kata very quickly, Raphael would always come in second and the other two struggled.

Today Splinter decided to pair them off and have them spar for the first time, he told them "Raphael, you and Leonardo stand over here facing each other, Donatello and Michelangelo stand beside me."

Looking confused Raphael and Leonardo did as they were told, their younger brothers stood next to Splinter.

"OK my sons, today your going to do what's called sparring, its like fighting but you don't use your full strength."

The two boys faced each other and bowed before getting into a fighting stance, Splinter gave the word and the two began. Raphael made a fast work of causing his younger brother to hit the mat, Leonardo used his fall to his advantage and kicked Raph's leg causing him to fall as well.

Jumping up Raphael and Leonardo faced each other again, the two seemed to do better sparring then they did doing a kata. After nearly 5 minutes of knocking the other down Splinter told them to stop, they looked at him out of breath and sweating heavily. "very good my sons, you both did very well for your first time, now remember you can not hit each other outside of the dojo, during a sparring session is the only time your allowed to fight like this; understood."

Both boys bowed and said respectively at the same time "yes Sensei." he had Donatello and Michelangelo stand before him and he told them "same rules apply my sons."

He gave the word and they began, with out thinking Donatello managed to get his younger brother knocked down in a matter of seconds, Mikey tried to copy what his older brother had done and tried to kick Donnie's legs to make him fall. But Donatello didn't fall he looked down at his brother and said "is that the best you got Mike?" frowning Mikey jumped up and the two began to punch and hit each other.

"STOP!" Splinter yelled from the side lines, "now you are just fighting, sparring is much different my sons, the point of this is to knock your opponent down and keep them there. Now try again." the two bowed and faced each other, and again Donatello had his little brother on the ground, but Michelangelo once again started a fight between them. "boys, that is enough, alright Raphael pair up with Michelangelo, Donatello come by me."

Raphael looked at his youngest brother and said "OK Mikey, remember don't start hitting me when I knock you down, you have to focus and try to knock me down. That is the point of this OK?"

Mikey nodded and like he said he would Raphael knocked him down, but this time was different Michelangelo swung his leg out hard and kicked the back of Raphael's leg effectively knocking him down. When both boys got back on their feet Raphael ran at him and Michelangelo did his first official flip in the air over his bigger brother and landed behind him and kicked his shell this caused Raphael to loose his balance and fall.

Splinter was surprised and then looked down at Donatello, and said "my son, I think we will do this pairing off from now on." Donatello didn't say a word as he watched his brothers, after nearly 10 minutes this time Splinter told them to stop; then he said "i want to see Leonardo and Donatello pair off then we are done for today."

Donatello and Leonardo faced each other and bowed, getting into a fighting stance Leonardo tried the same method as before to knock Donnie down the way he did Raph but to no avail, frowning Donatello kicked Leonardo's legs right out from under him. Donatello proved to be a challenge for his older brother, though he couldn't grasp kata's very quickly Donatello's style seemed to be his own Splinter made a mental note of this for the future. After nearly 10 minutes the two were at a draw, Splinter stopped them and said "OK you all did extremely well you may go play for a while. Donatello I wish to speak with you."

Donnie stood before his father as his brothers left the room, "am I in trouble?"

Splinter smiled at him and said "no my son, where did you learn those moves today? Those are far more advanced then what I have taught you this far?"

Donnie looked down at the ground and then said "from a book..." he said it so softly that Splinter just about didn't hear him, "from what book my son? Can you show me?"

Donnie looked up at his father and then left the dojo for the bookshelf in the living room, getting the stool he used to stand on he reached his book 'The next Karate Kid' taking it under his arm he ran back to the dojo and showed his father. Splinter didn't recognize it at all "where did you find this my son?"

"the last time I went up top with you, I found it, I learned to read it and read how that boy fought. He's a lot like me in some ways..."

"how so my son?"

Donnie took his book back and held it close to his plastron and said softly "cause he is misunderstood... he is smart but people don't notice it and bully him."

Splinter frowned and asked "do your brother's bully you my son?" looking down again he just said softly "just Raph... he calls me a smart... well he calls me bad names."

Splinter could fill in the blank as to what Raphael had called him and he said "my son, the word your brother used even though its meaning may be unclear to you and the word its self is unnecessary he is telling you that your smart. Although he could leave out the other word that goes along with it. He knows you are, he just has a different way of telling you, can you show me some of what you learned in this book?"

Donatello stood some distance from his father on the practice mat and showed his father what he had learned. Splinter was quite impressed and told him "my son what your demonstrating is similar to jujitsu but its not the same its called Karate, this skill you possess will be no doubt useful in the future. I will try and find out more about this art and we will do private sessions so you can practice."

Donnie smiled up at his father and said "so I will be like a secret weapon?"

"in some ways yes my son you will be, now go play with your brothers." Donnie ran off and Splinter shook his head he knew his sons were going to be a handful, but he was glad to see that one of his youngest sons knew a slightly altered version of what he was trying to teach them.

* * *

**_First Sibling Rivalry..._**

Raphael and Leonardo were arguing again from what Splinter could tell, he couldn't understand what they were fighting about he got up from his position on his meditation mat and walked out to the main room. "what is going on here?" Raphael and Leonardo were standing dangerously close and it looked as though fists were just about to be thrown "he thinks he is better then me!"

Raphael said first, Leo jumped in "i did not! Not once did I say that Raph!"

"that's enough boys, you are brothers you should not be fighting each other."

Leonardo turned back to his brother and said "you should know Raph that I am not better then you, we all started learning at the same time!"

"what ever! You practice by your self all the time! I hardly see you anymore!"

"boys! That is enough!" he could sense that another fight was about to break out, he looked over at the other two turtles who were on the couch Donatello was reading his book or trying to and Michelangelo was huddled next to him, turning back to his sons he said "Leonardo go to the dojo Raphael go to your room, there will be no more fighting between you two for the rest of the night."

They parted but not before Raphael punched his younger brother in the arm "ow! Raph! Why did you do that!"

Splinter looked down at his sons and said "Raphael, get to your room now! I will deal with you in a moment!"

Raphael stomped off to his room while Leonardo went to the dojo, "my son, why were you fighting with him again?" Leonardo looked down and said "i don't know, he started it... we were sparring and..."

"in the living room? Leonardo the living room is no place for such activity! You know this." with his head lowered he said "i know I am sorry..."

"as punishment do fifteen flips, I am going to have a word with your brother and I will be back."

Leonardo nodded and began to do his flips, Splinter went down the hall to Raphael and Leonardo's room stepping inside he found Raphael sitting on his bed fuming mad. "what has gotten into you lately Raphael?"

"your always praising him! He never gets into trouble! Why is it always me! What am I the bad child! Why does he get all the attention and all the praise when me, Donnie and Mikey do the best we can!"

"Raphael you all are doing well, but it is your temper that gets you into trouble my son. Shouting at your brother and shouting at me will get you no where BUT trouble. And your brother is in trouble my son, he told me the two of you were sparring outside the dojo, I told you that was not allowed."

Raphael looked down at his blanket and said "so what I have to stay in here the rest of the night?"

"do you feel this is the best punishment for disobeying a direct rule?"

"better then doing flips..."

"alright then, you are to stay in your room for the rest of the evening I will have your supper brought to you. And you are not to read your comic book while in here, you are to think about what you have done."

Frowning he looked at the comic that was beside him, picking it up he handed it to his father "this is Mikey's any way can you give it back to him since I cant read it?"

Splinter took the book and said to him "very well my son, now you know I love you right?"

Raphael looked up at him, "yea I guess..."

Splinter sat down next to him and put an arm around him "son, you may get into a lot of trouble but just remember I love you no matter what you do. The only one that can stay out of trouble is you, if something is bothering you then talk to me. I am always here my son, you can talk to me about anything, I just want you to know this. I have sensed for a little while now that you have built up anger, would you like to talk about that?"

Looking down he said "no, not right now..."

"very well then, when you are ready to talk I am here to listen." giving his son a kiss on his head he left the room, he hoped that his sons would grow out of this faze.

* * *

**_First Nightmare..._**

Michelangelo, tossed and turned in his bed below his older brother Donatello. His brother could hear the distress coming from below him and leaned over the rail of his bed and looked down at his brother sleeping. Suddenly Mikey shouts "NO! RAPH! LEO! NO! STOP!" Donnie jumped off the bed and shook his brother awake.

"Mikey, come on wake up! Whats wrong?"

Mikey woke up with a start and saw his older brother standing over him, "are we home?"

Donnie frowned at the question just as Splinter came in along with the remaining two turtles, "my son what has happened?"

"i had a bad dream..."

"what was it about Mikey?"

Raph sat next to his shaking brother, Michelangelo took hold of his oldest brother and held on.

Leo spoke up "apparently it was about you, from his reaction."

Donnie looked at him and told him "i think it was about all of us."

Splinter looked down at his second to youngest and asked "how do you know this?"

"cause he yelled out our names... he told Raph and Leo to stop. So I don't know what it was about but it sure scared him."

Raphael could feel his brother tremble in his arms, he looked down at him and said "what was it about bro?"

Mikey sniffed and looked up at him and said softly "it was about us, but we were a lot older, we were fighting these guys... they wore black... we were fighting them and... then."

Leo stepped closer "then what?"

"then they... they... shot at us... Raph saved Leo... but Raph had blood all over him when he hit the ground... Leo charged ahead and tried to protect Donnie... but some girl... she... she hit him with a sward in his chest. Then... then Donnie... he... he..."

Mikey couldn't finish he dissolved into tears, Splinter wondered why his 5 year old son was having dreams like this, did he see something on TV that caused this? Splinter picked his son up and held him, Mikey wrapped his arms around the old rats neck and sobbed into his shoulder.

Every one was silent, all that could be heard was Michelangelo's sobbing, Splinter looked down at his remaining sons and told them "go back to bed boys, I will take Michelangelo with me, Donatello will you be alright?"

Donnie nodded and said "i will be fine."

Splinter left the room with the still distraught Michelangelo, going to his own room Splinter laid Michelangelo down on his bed and laid down next to him.

"Michelangelo did you watch something on Television that could have triggered this dream?" shaking his head he said "no... I promise."

"did your brothers tell you a scary story?"

"no... they didn't."

"then what triggered it my son?"

"I don't know..."

Splinter stood and went and got two candles that he knew would help his son relax and sleep; he lit a Jasmine candle as well as a Lavender candle. After several moments Michelangelo fell into a deep sleep, Splinter laid down next to him and thought about his son's dream.

He hoped it wasn't a glimpse into their future, it could have been with as vivid as it was. But he hoped not, he stayed next to his sleeping son for the rest of the night, by morning there had been no other dreams. Days and weeks went by and there were no other dreams like the first one so Splinter chalked it up to his son having a wild imagination... but little did he know what would happen ten years in their future that was similar but not quite the same as Michelangelo's dream...

* * *

**A/N:** here's chapter 4 guys, and thanks again to mistystar123! This was fun to write.

About Michelangelo's dream I was thinking of that episode in TMNT 2003 series where it was the final battle with Shredder and Kari stabs Leo with the katana. Obviously in the episode the turtles live, but in Mikey's nightmare they had died.

**On a side note: **Chapter 5 will not be a continuance of Mikey's dream, nor will any future chapters. I may have to raise the rating for the next chapter though... has slight bad language in it. Nothing too sever but we all know how Raphael is...


	5. First Lost Tooth

**A/N: **again this is an idea that mistystar123 had, thanks for the help. I didn't realize it until I posted chapter 4 that the title says first bad word... sorry about that its a typo. Thanks for the reviews so far, its keeping me wanting to write more. Also as a side note, in this story in case any one missed it, I have made Raphael the oldest brother in this story only, any other story I write Leonardo is the oldest.

**A/N2: **Fixed errors

* * *

_Turtles at 5 years old still, one turtle has lost his first tooth..._

Leonardo and Donatello were sparring in their own time in the dojo, Leonardo thought his brother saw him swing his leg but he guessed wrong. He kicked his younger brother directly in the mouth. Donatello hit the ground, tears were running down his face Leonardo shouts "FATHER! COME QUICK! Oh my god Donnie I am so sorry! I thought you saw what I was getting ready to do!"

Splinter came running into the room and saw Donatello's little hand with blood on it, pulling his hand away Splinter could see a gap in his son's mouth. "my son, you kicked his tooth out. Donatello open your mouth." doing so with out a fight Donatello opened his mouth, Splinter couldn't see with the blood that was in his sons mouth so he said "come to the bathroom, Leonardo clean this mess up."

Splinter carried Donatello to the bathroom and sat him down in front of the sink, taking a cup of cold water Splinter told him "OK I want you to not swallow my son but swish the water around in your mouth, not hard but gently OK?" Donatello nodded his understanding did as he was told, after a few spits the blood stopped. To Splinter's horror he realized that Donatello must have swallowed the tooth... Raphael and Michelangelo came into the bathroom followed by a very upset Leonardo.

Splinter turned to look at them, Leo was the first to ask "is he going to be OK?"

"yes my son, he swallowed his tooth so I will have to watch him very closely over the next couple of days to make sure the tooth exits his body."

Raphael asked "does he have to throw it up?"

Mikey looked at him and said proudly "he has to poop it out ya ding bat! That's why it takes a couple days!"

Splinter was proud of his youngest son, "that is correct Michelangelo, that is what I have to watch for the next couple of days..."

Donnie looked up at him horrified "you mean you have to watch me when I go to the bathroom?"

"I'm afraid so my son, I know its embarrassing but I have to." Donatello looked down and said to his father "i think I like Raph's idea better..." Leo piped up "Splinter, what if after he goes to the bathroom he doesn't flush and he just comes and tells you that he went. That way he can have his privacy while he goes?"

Splinter nodded and said "that is a better suggestion, would this be OK Donatello?"

"yea, that's a better idea."

Splinter went to make lunch now that the crisis was over for the moment, but he kept his eye on Donatello, he could tell that Leonardo was troubled though "is something wrong my son?" he was fixing something softer for Donatello to eat instead of hamburgers the other turtles were having "why didn't you punish me?"

"what do you mean my son?"

"i kicked Donnie in the mouth... I knocked out a tooth..."

Splinter sat down next to his son at the table and said "Leonardo, did you do it on purpose? With the intent to cause harm to him?" with a horrified look Leonardo said "no! I would never do that!"

"then it was an accident my son, it happens, your brother will be OK. His tooth will grow back and he will be fine, so there is no need to worry. But I do hope this has taught you a lesson my son... to watch what you are doing, next time it may not be the mouth you hit." Splinter got up to finish the salad he was making for Donatello, Leonardo looked down at the table and kept thinking.

After dinner was over the turtles went to bed, Leonardo and Donatello went to bed with out much of a fight but Splinter had his usual bouts of trouble with the other two. Leonardo stopped by his brother's room and said "Donnie..." standing before his brother Leo said to him

"I am sorry about earlier... I really didn't mean to hurt you... I thought you would have blocked me."

Donnie smiled at him with the obvious gap in his mouth and with a slight slur said "its OK, I know you didn't mean for it to happen, I guess I just wasn't paying attention, I think the lesson we both learned today was pay attention to what your doing."

Leo patted his brother on the shoulder and bid him a good night, but that night was anything but good on Leonardo's mind. He kept dreaming about what had happened, then out of no where his dream shifted and Leonardo missed Donnie's mouth and hit him in the eye causing his brother to go blind. Leonardo sat up and shouted, his breathing was heavy and he had sweat running down his face, Raph looked over the side of his bed and down at his brother "what happened? Are you OK?" Leo looked up at his brother and laid back down. "yea I'm find Raph, just go back to sleep..."

Weeks went by and Donatello seemed he was going to be fine after swallowing his tooth, but every one could tell that Leonardo was not OK. His nightmares were keeping him awake and during practice he would hesitate and get knocked down. Donnie's tooth was indeed growing back, but what Splinter could tell the tooth was slightly crooked and it caused a noticeable gap in his mouth.

Splinter only hoped that when the other tooth fell out that it would straighten up, but never did. Splinter noticed during one occasion that Raphael and Leonardo were sparring that Raphael swung at his brother Raph could hear "oh Look out Leo!"

Raph tried to stop but he couldn't he saw in slow motion as his fist collided with his brother's mouth and a tooth went flying. But for Leo the tooth didn't bleed, Splinter rushed to their sides as Raph keeled down next to his brother obviously sorry about what he had done.

"Leo! Oh my god I am so sorry!"

Leo looked up at his brother's and father and said "yea... Karma will come and getcha if your not careful."

Splinter smiled at his son, "was your tooth loose already?"

"yea, it came loose a few days ago, Raph just sped up the process of it coming out."

"Leo don't joke I didn't mean to..."

"Raph I know you didn't its OK, like a few weeks ago I should have been paying attention to what I was doing."

Leonardo's tooth grew back perfectly straight but Donatello's tooth had come in partially crooked so there was a noticeable gap, both turtles learned a valuable lesson in paying attention, and in Karma.

* * *

**A/N: got the idea from mistystar123, but when I got down to thinking about who lost the first tooth I thought about Donatello from the 2012 series. And it was my thoughts on how come his teeth have a gap.**


	6. First Father's Day

First Father's Day

* * *

It had been almost a year since Splinter found the turtles in the sewers surrounded by mutagen, in that year they learned how to walk as well as talk. Splinter sat in his chair watching his sons as they color on pieces of paper, his mind wandered to just a little over a year ago before his mutation, to his family.

_19 months before mutation..._

_Homato Yoshi and his wife Tang Shen were ever so happy to have their first baby, a girl named Miwa. Yoshi had been very excited to celebrate his first Father's day as a parent with Miwa, he remembered how he would hold her close and sing to her. That Father's Day how ever was different, it was more special, Miwa was only two months old and didn't know what day it was. All the little girl knew was that she was spending one on one time with her father, he took her on walks that day and talked to her like she understood what he was telling her. The day ended all too soon by evening time, when he laid her down in bed that night, he had no idea this would be his last Father's Day he would spend with his little girl..._

_Present day..._

Splinter shook his head of the memory and looked down at his sons, Michelangelo the youngest of his sons got up from their table and stepped over his brothers as best as he could and said "daddy! Looky what I did! I draw picture for you!" taking the picture from the young boy at first glance it looked like a bunch of squiggles, but in Splinter's heart it was much more then that. "thank you Michelangelo, do you know what this is?" smiling proudly he said "yea, it a picture of us! Our family! See, here Raphie, there Leo and Donnie! And over here is you!"

Splinter felt tears in his eyes looking at the picture, he looked at his son and told him "thank you Michelangelo." next to get up was Donatello he stood next to his little brother and said "Happy Father's Day daddy!" frowning Splinter asked him "how did you know today was a holiday my son?" looking sheepish he said "cause I read it on the calender..." Splinter had almost forgotten that this child was gifted and at only 1 year old could already read on a kindergarten level. "why thank you my son." on Donatello's paper had stick figures on it, Splinter could tell what was what on this one and could clearly see it was one of their family as well. Raphael was next and stood beside his brothers, his picture had stick figures as well but it only had two on it one was brown and one was red. "there are only two my son?" "that's you and me daddy! Happy Faders Day!" he knew his son was mimicking Donatello and smiled at him "thank you my son." Leonardo was last and his was just like his brothers pictures and he said "this is for you daddy! Its of all of us, and we a happy family!" looking at Leonardo's picture he couldn't help but see there was a large brown figure which he knew was himself, and then four small green ones and he knew that was them but there was one more... "who is this last one Leonardo?" looking down at his feet he said "the baby from that picture..." Splinter looked over at the mantel and saw the picture he had of himself holding Miwa with his wife standing beside him... he felt tears slide down is face and said "thank you my sons, I think this is the best Father's Day I will ever have..."

_Fourteen Years Later..._

The now fifteen year old turtles stood with their father in the dojo as they talked about Father's Day's past, Splinter told them of the first Father's Day they spent together and why it meant so much to them. Raphael looked at the old warn photos now of stick figures and asked "but Master these are nothing but squiggles and stick figures? Why are they so important?" Smiling at his son he said "its the meaning of the pictures and what they symbolize." Mikey frowned and asked "what's that? That we couldn't draw worth snot as babies..."

Donatello smiled proudly and said "no Mikey, its because even though we were just babies we knew what it meant to be a family. And by Leo drawing a picture of all of us including Miwa it showed he as well as all of us showed compassion for our family. Even at age one we knew what a family meant. Father's Day is a day to spend with the man in your life that is there for you no matter what. That was our first Father's Day with him... but the one before was first and last for Miwa, so for Leo to draw her in as part of the family meant something to Splinter." Splinter felt pride in his heart as he listened to Donatello explain why Father's Day was so important to him and why he had held on to four drawings for fourteen years. "that is correct Donatello, you see Michelangelo you drew a picture that requires a strong imagination, when I look at it I see all of us. Family is more important then anything my son, Miwa is forever in my heart, but you are all here with me now and that is what is most important." with that being said Leonardo stepped forward "father, the four of us chipped in and got you something for Father's Day." he handed the small hard object to his father "and April helped make it too." opening it he found a photo shop picture of Miwa and his four turtles along with April, Splinter smiled and placed the picture on the mantel next to the one of his previous family. He now had tears running down his face as he gathered his sons in his arms and said through his tears "thank you my sons... this day will be forever in my heart..."

* * *

**A/N: I was going to do something different for this chapter, but since today is Father's Day I decided to write a chapter based on today. **


	7. First Explosion

**First Explosion and Injury**

**A/N:** I got off my lazy but and am now working on fixing this story and it's horrible Spelling and Grammar problem it has going on.

* * *

Splinter had been out scavenging when he found a discarded chemistry set, he smiled when he knew his son Donatello would love it. He put it in his bag and continued looking for other items his sons would like, he found some beakers, viles, and test tubes.

Putting those in his bag he kept looking he found some discarded comic books for Raphael and Michelangelo. He tried hard but he couldn't find anything that would suit Leonardo, he had already been in the junk yard a lot longer then expected but he didn't want Leonardo left out. He got to thinking though '_last week when I was out here Leonardo got a stack of books, and some toys out here.' _deciding that his son would understand he headed for home.

When he got to the lair he was greeted by his four energetic sons, "father did you find anything useful?" was what he got from Leonardo, "did you get me anything?"

from Michelangelo Raphael and Donatello were standing back and waited for Splinter to put his bag down. Splinter placed his bag on the kitchen counter and said "first off, Leonardo, you got a stack of books last week and some new toys, I was unable to find anything else this week. But I did find some things for your brothers."

Leo nodded and watched the other three stood next to the table waiting some what patiently Raphael was first "i found some comic books that I think are your taste Raphael." handing him the books he replied "yes, thank you!"

Running off to the living room to start reading them, "and Michelangelo I found you some comic books as well." a smile formed on Michelangelo's face as he took the stack of comics from his father and said "thank you." he too ran off, after some doing he got the beakers out of the bag as well as the test tubes, "i found these Donatello and I thought you could use them." before Donatello could pick them up Splinter stopped him and pulled out a good size box out of his bag and handed it to his son "and a chemistry set my son."

Donatello's eyes grew wide, he was speechless, looking up at his father he finally found his voice "a ch-chemistry set? Where did you find this? Why would some one throw this out!"

Splinter could see the excitement in his sons eyes as he took the box and with Leonardo's help they carried it and the other two items to Donnie's new workshop that Splinter had given him for his 10th birthday. Splinter smiled and followed the boys, Leo watched with interest as Donnie began to open the box and take things out. He looked up at his father and brother and said "everything is in here! Oh my gosh some one threw out a perfectly unused chemistry set! Thank you Master Splinter!"

Splinter smiled and said to his son "you are very welcome, what all comes with the set?" he walked up behind his two sons and looked over their shoulders Donnie spoke proudly "it comes with a few chemicals, a magnifying glass, thermometer, tweezers, microscope and microscope slides. And a few test tubes with holder, and a small Bunsen burner."

Leo looked at all these items and asked "do you know how to use this stuff?" Donnie looked at his brother and said "not really, but I will learn." Leonardo and Splinter looked at each other and Splinter said "just don't blow the lair up is all I ask my son." Donnie looked up at his father and said "i wont."

After a while Leo left the workshop board since Donnie wasn't able to figure some things out and was reading the booklet that came with the set.

Raphael wandered in a few hours later and said "watcha doing brainy ack?" Donnie looked over at his oldest brother and said "experiments."

"do I even want to know what kind?"

"i don't even know."

"that's a scary thought, just don't blow the place up OK?"

Donatello sent his brother a dirty look and said "I'm not!"

Two weeks had passed since Donatello received his chemistry set, he was careful with it like promised, he only set fire to his workshop once but was able to put it out with water.

Raphael was board and came into the workshop as Donatello was working with some chemicals in a test tube "wacha doin?"

Donnie looked back at the door way and said "i am mixing chemicals together."

"dare I ask what kind?"

"uh probably not."

Donatello plugged the Bunsen Burner in and started it up the blue flame came to life, he put the red chemical and the yellow in the same beaker then took the green one and added it to it. And placed the beaker on the burner. For a minute nothing happened then there was a spark and the room erupted with light and a loud KA-BOOM could be heard all through out the lair. Splinter, Leonardo, and Michelangelo came running to the workshop to find Raphael up against a wall with his back facing the room, and found Donatello on the other side of the room under a table that had went flying in the explosion.

Splinter pushed his two sons away as he rushed first to Donatello and said "what happened my son? Are you alright?"

Donnie sat up and rubbed his head "yea... any one catch the number on that bus?"

He could see his son had a burn on his right arm but a cut on the left, Splinter then went to check on Raphael, "Raphael are you alright my son?"

Raph sat up and said softly "yea... my shell hurts... my head hurts... I don't think there is a part of my body that doesn't hurt..."

Splinter looked at his son's carapace and saw a large crack near his shoulders that splintered out around the main crack in his shell. _'this must be from the impact of hitting the wall.' _"did you hit the wall back first my son?"

Raphael nodded and said "i did, and then I turned around so that the glass flying wouldn't hit me in the face."

Donatello walked over to them and said "Raph? Are you OK? I am sorry I didn't know what was going to happen..."

Splinter turned to his son and asked "what did happen?"

Donatello looked down at his feet and said "i- uh- put a beaker- with um some chemicals... on the burner... then turned it on... with in a few seconds it blew up..."

Splinter was angry with his son, but he was also glad they were not too badly injured. "Donatello I want you to clean this room up after we get your arms attended to, then go to the dojo and wait for me there. Raphael come with me, we need to check you over further."

Splinter took him to the bathroom and checked his shell over, he found that the crack was not deep but it was evident that something had happened, he also noticed a small break in the edge of Raphael's plastron, that too wasn't very bad. He told his son "do you hurt anywhere else?" "no father, I don't, is Donnie gonna be in trouble?"

"don't you worry about that my son, go play with your brothers."

Splinter grabbed the first aid kit and went to his son's workshop, he found the young turtle picking up broken glass. Donatello looked up at his father and said "i am sorry dad, I didn't mean for this to happen..."

Splinter noticed the sincere look on the boy's face and said "i know you are Donatello, come with me my son, I don't want either of us stepping on broken glass."

Donnie carefully stepped over the glass and followed his father down the hall, he felt a burning sensation building up in his stomach and he knew he was in trouble... Splinter led him to the bathroom, Donatello looked up at his father and asked once the door was shut "are you mad at me?"

Splinter began to clean the cut on Donnie's arm and he said "a little bit Donatello, I told you to be careful and not blow anything up. You could have seriously hurt your self or even your brother."

Donnie flinched a little when Splinter put peroxide on his cut, Donnie looked at his arm and then back up at his father "am I going to get punished?"

Giving his son a stern look he said "yes, when we are done here I want you to go clean up the mess, then bring me the Bunsen Burner, you have lost it till further notice." Donatello looked down and said "i guess I deserve that..."

"and another thing, you are grounded to your room for the rest of the day, you are not to play with any of your brother's toys, or read any of his books. You are to think about what you could have done, my son, I don't not wish to be so harsh with you but what you did was dangerous. You could have hurt your self more then what you did, even worse you could have hurt your brother as well."

Splinter put some aloe gel on his son's burn and then said "OK, you are doctored up, now go clean the mess then go to your room."

"yes Sensei." before leaving the room he turned "do you want me to tell you when I am done?"

"only if you feel the need to."

Splinter watched his son leave the room and went to the kitchen and got the trash can, after taking the half used bag out he put another bag in a replaced the half used one; he carried it to the workshop and said to his son "you will need a place for the glass."

Setting the trashcan down he said "give me the Bunsen Burner."

Donatello put the broom down and picked up the burner and handed it to his father, "thank you my son." Splinter watched his son work for a few moments before Raphael appeared beside him

"Master Splinter... this wasn't all his fault..."

Donnie looked up in surprise when he heard his oldest brother speak, Splinter looked at his eldest son and said "how do you mean?"

Looking at his younger brother Raphael said softly "i, uh, kind of... distracted him... it's mostly my fault... that he wasn't paying attention... I kept talking to him and distracting him... he shouldn't get all the blame."

Splinter felt pride that his oldest son was owning up to a mistake that could have caused a catastrophe, he said to his son "then you will assist Donatello, then you will remain in your room for the remaining part of the day as well."

Nodding Raphael picked up the dust pan and began to help his little brother. Splinter walked out of the room; Donnie looked at his big brother and said "you didn't have to do that Raph." Raph dumped glass into the trashcan and said "yea I did, cause its true... if I hadn't distracted you then the explosion wouldn't have happened and you wouldn't have gotten into trouble."

Donnie and Raph worked quietly for several minutes before Donnie said "thank you, for standing up for me..."

Smiling Raph said "i will always have your back little bro... no matter what happens."

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_Five years later..._

Donatello now 15 years old was working on an experiment in his now lab that was once a simple workshop, he could smell it happening, the liquid over his recently given back Bunsen Burner was boiling.

Raphael walked up behind him and turned down the flame, "Donnie, seriously you just got the dang thing back... are you trying to blow up the lab now and loose it again! I still have the crack in my shell from the last explosion you caused!"

Donnie looked up at his oldest brother and said "its OK Raph, I will just tell Master Splinter that you distracted me again."

Donnie took the beaker off the burner and Raph made his move, he tackled his younger brother and said "oh no you wont!"

Splinter watched from the doorway as his sons wrestled on the floor, a smile crept over his face as he realized that Raphael had kept his promise he had made years ago...

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**A/N: this one is for all you Donatello and Raphael fans out there! Just a cute little chapter about Donatello having an explosion and Raph being a good brother to him. Hope you enjoy, I am loving the ideas you guys. **

**Just a shout out to mistystar123 and to the guest reviewer for their ideas for this chapter!**

**Feed this writer more idea's guys I am loving this!**

**I do have my own ideas but I am enjoying your ideas too!**


	8. First Lie & First Severe Punishment 1

**First Lie and Severe Punishment part 1**

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The nine year old turtles were becoming restless in their sewer home, Splinter knew they would some day get board but he wasn't sure how long it would take. He announced to his sons "boys, tonight as long as there's no humans around we will go to the park, I found one that doesn't have a lot of humans in it." all four were delighted, so later on that evening Splinter got the turtles ready to go up top, he just hoped that the boys would behave while up there.

Later that day Raphael went into the dojo, he knew he wasn't supposed to go alone but he didn't care, he found one of his Sensei's sia's and put it in his belt. Then followed his family out of the lair, after they reached the manhole that would take them to the surface Splinter turned and told his sons "what are the rules for going above?" Donnie answered first "don't get seen." Leo was next "stick to the shadows."

Mikey piped up cheerfully "don't talk to strangers and have as much fun as possible!" Splinter frowned at him and said "you are right about the 'don't talk to strangers my son, and I do want you to have fun." he noticed Raphael off to the side looking irritated "Raphael, what other rule is there for going to the surface?" Raph looked at his father then said "stay together, don't wander off, if you see some one coming then go hide in the shadows. And most importantly be safe, if you get hurt don't keep it to your self." Splinter nodded approvingly and said "that is correct my son, now lets go." the five of them scurried up the ladder that lead to the above, Raphael climbed up behind Leo who went first and then followed by Donnie then Mikey. Usually Raph would go first but he knew that Leo was afraid of heights so he went second so his brother would not be afraid.

Once they got to the park the turtles waited in the bushes with Splinter until he gave the all clear, Splinter watched the last family leave the playground. After the car went around the corner he said "OK my sons, its clear go play." the four turtles ran to the play area, Michelangelo went to the jungle gym, while Leonardo and Donatello went to the slide, Raphael couldn't decide what to do. He decided to go over to the monkey bars that were in the shape of a train. **(A/N: had one of these at my old school playground.)** climbing up he could see his brother's having fun, he just didn't feel up to playing and he also had his father's weapon in his belt. If he ever lost that he would be in so much trouble, although he knew he would be in trouble for just going into the dojo by himself and touching weapons. His youngest brother ran up to him "Raph, wanna play king of the mountain?" "nah, not tonight Mikey." "please? the others don't wanna play with me!" Raph smiled at him and said "sure, come on." they ran to the 3 story tall structure of a monkey bar and both began to climb, he looked over at Leo and said "hey Leo! Sure you don't wanna join us? Its fun up here!" Donnie and Leo looked up at the others and Leo said back "no sorry, I don't feel like falling tonight!" Raph snorted and replied back "yea OK... says the turtle that has no problem going down a slide..." Leo stood at the bottom of the structure that Raph and Mike were on and said "yea but that slide isn't that high up! Your too far up!"

Splinter watched in amusement as the boys played, suddenly his ears perked up, some one was coming. He rushed over to the boys and said to the two climbing turtles "boys quiet! Stay still, Leonardo, Donatello go to the bushes, some one is coming." Raph watched his two younger brothers run for the bushes, his father wasn't far behind, he looked down at Mikey who was several rungs below him. "Mike, come on up, hurry..." Mikey started to climb up to his brother, just as some people entered the park.

"yea hey guys, you wouldn't believe the loot I got tonight! Damn security guard didn't know what the hell he was doing!" the guy talking looked into the park, "hey, wait... is some one here?" the other four next to him stopped to look then one man with a ball cap said "yea, I see something... in the bush over there..."

Raph looked over at the bushes and saw Leonardo peaking out, he looked over at Mikey and said "stay here..." he climbed back down and dropped to the ground, the two men looked around and one said "what's that over there?" "don't know Jake, but lets see if it has any money."

Leo could feel fear creeping up into his gut as the two men made their way his direction, but then suddenly "hey over here!" could be heard, Leo looked over and saw Raph on the ground waving at the men. "hey what the hell?" 'Jake' walked over to Raph and Raph swung his leg out and tripped him knocking him down, the other man pulled a knife and said "try that again kid!" Raph didn't see Splinter or Donatello anywhere so he pulled out the sia and said "oh really... mine's bigger..." this made then men stop cold... "what the hell?" the man standing said... the one of the others that were still on the side walks say "get your asses over here! We gotta get going!"

Raph put the sia away as Leonardo approached him "where did you get that?" Raph looked down at the ground "well I uh..." "you got it from the dojo! Raph we aren't supposed to touch the weapons yet!" "and wacha gonna do Leo... tattle on me? I can just tell father that you let your self be seen!" Mikey climbed down and said "guys... what happened?" the people had long since left when Donatello and Splinter came back into view, Splinter asked "are you alright?" Raph looked over at his two brothers and said "yea we are fine." "did they see you?" Leo looked at Raph and Raph looked at Leo before Leo said "no father, they didn't." bowing his head he knew if Splinter ever found out that they lied that they were get in a severe amount of trouble. Splinter could sense that something wasn't right but he ignored it and said "do you want to still play a wile or go home?" the four looked at each other before Leo answered "can we play just a little longer?" smiling Splinter said "yes you can."

when it was time to go the four young turtles followed their father to the sewer grate, Mikey followed behind Raph this time and noticed something shiny in his belt. Raph felt the tug on his belt and spun around "what are you doing?" "what are you doing with this?" Mikey held up the sia and Raph looked at him dumb founded "Mike, give it back!" Splinter had not noticed his two sons holding back as he kept walking with the other two in toe Mikey pulled the sia back out of his oldest brother's reach and said "not until you tell me what your doing with it? You know we cant have these yet!" "I know I was just seeing if it fit into my belt!" "looks like it does now you gonna put it back?" "well yea, when we get home, now give it to me!" making a grab for it both boys had the handle and played tug of war with the sia, after a couple of seconds the sia fell from both of their hands and landed into the sewer water. Raph turned to Mikey angrily "now look what you did!" "me! Your the one who took it in the first place!" "yea but I was gonna return it! Now its lost!"

just then they could hear further up the tunnel "Raphael! Michelangelo! don't dawdle my sons!" both boys looked at each other and Raph said "this ain't over Mike!" they ran up the tunnel to catch up with the others, Splinter was waiting and asked  
"what kept you my sons?" Raph shrugged and said evenly "Mike thought he saw something so we stopped to try and see what it was." Mikey's jaw dropped, he looked at his oldest brother and then said "um... yea, I thought I saw something but Raph said it was nothing then we could hear you calling for us and we came back..." this time it was Raph's turn to be shocked, he thought for sure his youngest brother would rat him out, but instead lied right along with him. Splinter looked between his two sons and said "OK, lets go home." Leo frowned and said "you both are lying..." Raph just frowned back and said "no we are not, besides its not like you haven't lied tonight too." Splinter had walked far enough ahead that he had not heard what the boys were talking about, once at home he told them, "OK we are going to have a short practice then you can have some free time before bed." he could hear the protests but they still followed him to the dojo.

He paired Leonardo with Donatello for some sparring, Donnie could see his older brother was distracted as they began their session, after a few moments Donatello took Leonardo down. Raph and Mikey were both amazed that this happened usually it was the other way around. Splinter tapped his walking stick and said "Leonardo, why are you distracted my son?" Leonardo looked over at his two brother's on the side lines and then said "it's nothing Sensei, I think I am just tired." nodding Splinter told him "very well then, Raphael, I would like for you to spar with Leonardo." Leo looked over at his older brother and gulped he knew Raph was bigger and stronger then he was. They faced each other and bowed before getting into position, Raphael easily took down his younger brother with in a minute. Donatello stood next to Mikey and whispered "why is Leo having such a hard time tonight?" Mikey looked at his brothers on the mat then looked at his older brother and said "i r-really a-am not sure."

Splinter heard what Michelangelo said and knew something was wrong, when this particular child is hiding something he develops a stutter. "Stop." Raphael and Leonardo stopped their session and faced their father, "stand before me my sons." all four of the turtles lined up in front of their father as Splinter walked from one end of the line to the next and said sternly "is there something going on that I should know about?" Donatello looked at his three brothers as he noticed that Splinter had not looked his way once, the other three turtles chorused at once "no Sensei." he looked at Donatello and told him "Donatello my son, practice is over for you, you may go have some free time, but please no mixing chemicals again."

Donnie smiled inward at that and ran off to go play for a bit, Splinter looked at his remaining three and said "boys, Leonardo should have been able to defeat Raphael and draw a tie with Donatello, now I want to know, is something going on?" all three shook their heads no, "did something happen in the park that I should know about?" once again they shook their heads, Splinter frowned deeply and said "Michelangelo, did something happen in the park that I need to know about?" the other two knew why Splinter asked him directly, Michelangelo had a slight stutter when he was lying or trying to hide something he has done. Mikey looked at his brothers, and tried to talk with out stuttering "no, father, n-nothing happened." there it was he had tripped on his words even if it was slight giving his son a stern look he said "are you lying to me?" that did it, Mikey couldn't hold back "n-no m-m-master S-Splinter, I-I am not lying to you." Leo and Raph knew they were about to get it, Splinter knew about Mikey's problem though he tried hard to control it. He turned to his oldest two and asked "why is he stuttering if nothing happened?" Raphael just shrugged and said "don't know, maybe he just imagined something happened."

Raph knew he was really gonna get it when Splinter found out that all three of them were lying but he him self was guilty of lying several times already to Splinter's face. All of the turtles knew that Splinter was very strict when it came to dishonesty, Donatello learned his lesson just the year before when he slipped out of the lair and went to the junk yard alone. Splinter had found out about it but Donatello kept denying it and lied to him repeatedly until Michelangelo ratted his brother out with his stuttering. Leo and Raph looked at their father and gulped they knew the penalty for lying was very strict, but at this point it was best to say nothing. Splinter looked up at the clock and saw it was bed time and said "we will talk about this more in the morning, it is time for bed." the three turtles walked off to their rooms, "oh and Leonardo, would you get your brother and tell him it is time for bed." Leo looked back and said "Hai Sensei."

Leonardo found his younger brother in the living room reading "Master Splinter says it's time for bed." Donnie looked up from his book and said "did you tell him." with a frown he asked "what do you mean?" "did you tell him about the sia?" "no, because he only asked about the park." Donnie put his book back on the shelf and began to leave the room, "just remember Leo... I couldn't sit for quite some time after Splinter caught me..." with that said he left his older brother to his thoughts and made his way to their bed room. Leo went to Raph and Mikey's room and knocked on their door, "come in..." was heard and Leo entered Raph sat up and said "what do ya want Leo?" "Raph, we either need to find that sia or confess to Master Splinter." Raph frowned "i am the one that will get into trouble over the sia you were the innocent bystander, besides you just lied, you didn't do anything worse then that."

Leo bowed his head and said "but I got seen, that is a big no no." "its not punishable by butt whoopin though bro. He will just make you do flips, or give a lecture." Leo climbed the ladder and sat on the edge of his brother's bed and said "but Raph... I lied too... and I am with holding information, on top of being seen... we haven't had to deal with being seen before... I am scared..." Raph put his legs over the edge of his bed and sat next to his brother, wrapping an arm around him he said "it will be OK... if we get caught then I will take the fall OK? Just remember I was seen too, and I talked to the guy as well as threatened him with a weapon... so I am in some deep trouble too." Leo looked down, the room was quiet except for the sound of their baby brother snoring softly in the bunk below them. Raph could still feel the fear radiating off of his brother, "Leo, please... it will be OK..." Leo looked at him with tears in his eyes "yea but... he isn't expecting you to be perfect... if you haven't noticed he keeps getting on to me when ever I mess up..." "Leo, Splinter may choose you to be leader some day but just remember... we are only nine years old... its in our blood to make mistakes... besides it isn't like you went and robbed a store or anything... you were just seen..." Leo looked down again and just said "yea I know... but..." Raph told him sternly "you better get back to bed, we don't want Splinter to come and check on us and see you up." Leo nodded and quietly jumped from the top bunk and walked out of the room. Raph watched him leave then laid down putting his hands behind his head, he knew what he had to do... before he knew it he fell to sleep.

The next morning after breakfast Splinter told the turtles "OK, we are going to have weapons practice." this made Raph and Mikey stiffen up, Splinter handed Leonardo the bokken, handed Donnie the BO and Mikey the nun chucks, when he went for the sia's they were not there. Turning to the turtles he said "does any one know what happened to the sia?" Leo, Raph and Mikey looked at each other and Raph said "no Master Splinter." "they were there yesterday." Donnie chimed in, he received an elbow from Leo which Splinter didn't seem to notice. Splinter walked over to Donatello and said "if they were there yesterday then why are they not here today? Did you have something to do with this?" Donnie gulped and said honestly "no father, I did not." Raph tensed up as he noticed Splinter staring at his brother hard, he said to his father "Donnie wasn't in the dojo yesterday father..."

Splinter walked over to his oldest and said "do you know who was?" Raph gulped, he knew he had to go out and find that sia before he told his father the truth. "no sir." Leo felt like a rock was in his stomach as he heard his brother tell yet another lie, Splinter walked over and stood over him "Leonardo, do you know what happened?" Leo felt like the world was falling down around him as he shook his head not daring to speak. Splinter watched his second eldest and asked "are you lying to me, my son." Raphael could feel a rock in his own stomach now as he heard his younger brother lie for him again "no, father." now Raph knew more then ever he needed to find that sia. Splinter stepped back and saw that at least two of his sons had a guilty look, and two looked to be hiding something, he told them all "boys we will continue practice, and I expect that there will be no problems, Raphael you will use a BO for practice today." Raph nodded and took a BO down off the weapons rack, Raph looked over on the wall and shuddered when he saw the discipline paddle... he knew that only got used when some one lied or took something they were not supposed to... he gulped and turned back around to face his father, Splinter could see the look in his son's eyes and knew that something was troubling him. "Raphael, you and Donatello will practice together since you both are using BO's today, Leonardo and Michelangelo will practice together."

After practice Splinter could tell something was very wrong with three of his sons, they had done something but he could not tell what. Raphael approached his father and asked "may I go for a walk?" he knew they were allowed to go outside the lair just so long as they were careful "yes you may my son, but please take one of your brother's with you." Raph nodded and went to find Leo "Leo hey, Master Splinter said I could go for a walk, wanna go with me?" Leo looked up at him from the couch and said "sure."

The two turtles walked for some time before either of them spoke, Leo broke the silence "what do you think he is going to do when he finds out?" Raph looked at him and said "i am hoping nothing, I am hoping to find the sia and replace it before he gets too suspicious." they walked a little further before Leo realized where they were at, "this is where you and Mikey lost the sia!" "yep, I wanted to find it." Raph sat on the edge of the walk way, Leo stood there in shock then said "Raph you have no idea if it's still there! Or even how deep the water is!" "I can swim Leo and it will be fine." what neither of them noticed that there was some one lurking near by in the shadows watching them, the figure looked on and whispered to his friend "what the hell is that?" the shorter figure told his friend "lets go find out..."

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**A/N: I decided to break this chapter up into two parts, find out next time what happens when the mysterious figures lurking in the shadows comes near our boys in green.**


	9. First Lie & First Severe Punishment 2

**First Lie and Sever Punishment Part 2**

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Leonardo watched as his older brother jumped into the water, but to his surprise it only came up to his mid shell, "see its not deep Leo." using his feet he felt the bottem for the sia, he felt around for several moments before his foot hit something several feet from where he first started, "i think I found it!" Raph quickly dove underwater to retrieve it, "well, well, well, if it isnt the freaks from the other night..." Leo jumped at the sound and looked over, he felt nausiated as the teen punks approached him, he yelled out "Raph! Raph get up here! Raphael!" the taller boy said "aww, he has to yell to his mommy!" Raph had heard his brother's cries and snuck up behind the two taller punks he tapped one on the back with the sia and said "surprise."

when the boy turned around, Raph punched him in the face then knelt down and spun with his leg out knocking both boys into the water. "run, and don't look back!" was all Raph could say to his brother. The two took off down the tunnel running as fast as they could, Raph looked back at his younger brother and saw that he was wearing out. He saw a opening and took it, "Leo this way!" they stopped and caught their breaths, they didnt go to far into the tunnel but far enough they were out of sight. Leo panted hard and said "are they following us?"

Raph poked his head out the tunnel and said "i don't see them." he stood next to his brother and said "we will wait here for a while then we will head back." Leo looked down at his brother's hand "you found the sia." "yep and thank god it is just dirty and not rusted." just then they could hear foot steps and voices coming "where did those two freaks go?" "dont know! But we will find them." the two teens passed by and Raph watched them, he saw a purple dragon tattoo on their left arms and wondered what that ment. Suddenly he felt Leo next to him and said "what?" Leo looked past him and said "what if they find the lair before we get there?" Raph found a piece of trash near by and threw it in the opposite direction the two teens were going in and Raph shouted "Leo this way!" pushing his brother back in the tunnel they watched as the teens ran in the other direction, letting out a sigh of relief Raph said softly "lets go home and face the music." the two turtles slipped silently out of their hiding spots and started for home, little did they know what was waiting for them when they got there...

Once back at the lair door they could see a figure standing near by, Raph froze for fear that the two teens had some how followed them, but then the figure moved in the dim light and it was their father with an angry look on his face. Both boys looked at each other and gulped, "inside now!" was all that Splinter said to them, the two didnt waist any time and went inside, Splinter looked around and then went in himself. He noticed that Raphael and Leonardo were no where to be seen, Donnie and Mikey were sitting on the couch with their heads down, while the other two had been gone Splinter had gotten most of the truth out of the two youngest turtles. He turned to his two youngest and asked "where did they run off too?" Donnie looked up at his father and said "they... went to the b-bath r-oom..." he felt nausiated at having just ratted out his brothers, Splinter walked over to the two and said "Donatello, you may go to your room, remember your grounded from your gadgits until the end of the week for with holding information." Michelangelo sat there knowing his punishment was coming, Splinter looked down at him and said "go to the dojo Michelangelo." Donnie looked at his youngest brother and whispered when Splinter went to find the other two "it wont be so bad Mikey..." "not for you it wasnt..." Mikey slipped off the couch and went to the dojo, the usually hyper active turtle sat on the floor of the dojo quietly and waited for his father and brothers to come into the room.

Meanwhile Raphael and Leonardo were in the bathroom running soap on the sia and trying to scrub the sewage off of the metal Raph worked on one while Leo worked on the other. Suddenly there was a sound of the door knob being turned, but Raph had thrown the lock when they came in, when their father couldn't open the door he said threw it "boys, you had better come out of there! Now! This minute!" Leonardo flinched when Splinter pounded his fist into the door once, "Raph we better hurry."

Out side the door Splinter felt a tug on his robe, looking down he saw Donatello, "Donatello, I told you..." "i know, but father listen to me please... yelling at them isnt going to make them come out any faster... you are always telling us to be paitent..." Splinter sighed and said to him, "your right my son, I am sorry..." Donnie nodded and turned to the door, "Leo? Raph? Its Donnie... Please open up." Splinter stood back and watched as his most intelegent son got the two oldest to open or at least unlock the door. Splinter told him "Donatello, tell them to come to the dojo, I will be waiting." Donnie nodded and went into the bathroom. Splinter went to the dojo to wait for them.

In the bathroom Raph and Leo froze when the door opened, but relaxed when they saw it was Donnie, "where's Mike?" Leo wanted to know. Donnie shuffled his feet and said "he is in the dojo... Master Splinter wants to see you two in there." Raph inspected the sia he was holding and decided it was clean enough, Leo did the same to the other one and handed it to Raph who put it in his belt. Donnie hadn't moved Raph asked "how bad is it?" Donnie had tears running down his face when he looked up "he- he made Me and Mikey... he told us... if we didnt... I am so sorry Raph he knows... he knows about the sia missing... he knows it was you that took it... he knows that you lost it..." Raph walked over to his distressed brother and held him "its OK Don... I aint mad at ya..." Donnie pulled away and said "I got grounded for knowing this and not telling... but Mikey... Mikey lied... Splinter sent him to the dojo..." Leo put a hand on Raph's shoulder and said "come on... we- better not keep him waiting... it will only be worse if we do..." Raph nodded and said to Donnie "i am sorry I got you into trouble, I will make it up to you I promise." the three turtles walked to the dojo, Donnie turned and went to his room that was near by.

Splinter stood taking deap breaths and waited for his sons to come, he tried to control his temper, he watched as Leonardo and Raphael walked slowly into the room. He could tell that they were scared by their walking, Leo looked over and saw Mikey sitting off to the side he had tears running down his face. Raph looked over at the wall behind their father and saw the paddle was off the wall. The two didnt have to ask why their brother was crying, they knew... Splinter turned to Michelangelo and said "you are dismissed my son, go to your room." Splinter took another deep breath as the two boys stood before him, he thought about his words then said "Raphael, is it true that you took weapons out of the dojo with out permission?"

"Hai Sensei."

"is it true that you lied to me about knowing that they had been taken?"

Raphael could feel his brother tense up beside him but he looked down and said "Hai Sensei."

"did you loose the sia Raphael in an argument with Michelangelo?"

Raph felt tears in his eyes "Hai Sensei."

"do you have anything to say for your self?"

Raph looked at Leo then and then said to his father "I-I went... out... to um... find them... I didnt go for.. . just a walk..." Splinter swallowed hard as he tried to control him self again "where did you loose them my son?" Raph looked up at him with tears in his eyes and said "over by the park... in the sewers..." Leo stiffened up, Splinter had yet to question him. "so you not only took the sia with out permission, you went nearly half a mile away, with out my permission, to receive them?"

"Hai Sensei... but... that was why I took Leo... so he could spot me in the water while I looked... we locked out selves in the bathroom to clean them father... we were not afraid... well we were... but we didnt want them dirty when I returned them to you..." in saying Raphael pulled the now clean sia out of his belt and handed them to his father... Splinter looked over at Leonardo and asked "you knew about this?"

"Hai Sensei."

"do you have anything to add to this?" Leo looked his brother in the eyes, and he saw Raph nodd "we were seen the other night father... Me and Raph were... he was defending me... then just a little bit ago when we got them back the two kids were down in the sewers near us... they saw us again and chased us... Raph made sure we didnt get caught... don't worry we led them away from the lair." Splinter took in a sharp breath and then said tensly "you were both seen? Twice?"

both turtles said "Hai Sensei." Leo chimed in before anything else could be said "the first time was my fault... I.. I had been hiding in a small bush and it couldn't cover me... I sneezed at the wrong time and those kids saw me... before I could hide again they came up to me wanting to fight... Raph could have let me fend for my self... but he came to my defence... he made sure Mikey was safe before jumping down..." Splinter could see that his sons were shaking and sat down on the floor and said to them "sit." both boys sat down quickly and he took in a deep breath and let it out "boys, I am glad your safe... you know why I have made rules about being seen, and why you are not to touch the weapons... is there anything else I need to know?" Raph knew he had to say it "I uh... threatned the two punks with the sia... they got scared and ran off..."

Leo shook his head at his brother and said "Raph... you fought them." Splinter raised his eyes and said to Leonardo "go on..." Raph shot a look at his brother as Leonardo said "Raph fought the two punks... then when they werent going to surrender he showed them his weapons and they ran off..." Splinter looked at his eldest son and said "Raphael, why did you lie to me so many times?" Raph looked down at the floor, he felt tears running down his face, he looked over at Leo then said "Master Splinter... don't punish Leo... it was me that did everything..." Splinter had not been expecting this "Raphael, you know the punishment for lying..." he looked up and said "but he really didnt lie... he just with held information like Donnie did... last night I promised Leo I would find the sia and then talk to you... I promised him he wouldnt get into trouble." Splinter looked at Leonardo and asked "did you lie to me my son?" Leonardo looked up at his father and said "you asked me if I knew where the sia was, I told you no... it was the truth I didnt know where they were." Splinter looked over at Raphael "were you the only one of the two of you to know their location?" "Hai Sensei."

Splinter looked at his two sons and came to a conclusion "Leonardo, you're grounded for two weeks, no television, and you are to write an essay about the consiquences of with holding information. In addition you are to do all of the house hold chores with the help of Raphael for the next three weeks." Leonardo nodded and Splinter told him "you are dismissed." Raphael watched his brother leave and then turned back to his father, "Raphael, why did you feal the need to lie to me?" Raphael looked down at the floor, and didnt speak at first.

Splinter put a hand under his chin and guided it gently up so his son was looking at him, Raphael wasnt an emotional turtle, and didnt express his emotions other then with anger. So Splinter knew there had to be a reason for the tears, "Raphael, why are you crying?" Raph looked down and said softly "all I wanted was to see what it felt like to have a weapon on me... I was gonna put it back... I didnt want my brothers to get into trouble too... then... when I saw those punks come towards Leo... Leo was right I could have just let them hurt him... but then... what kind of brother would that make me? What if they captured him? That is what was going through my mind... I am so sorry I lied to you Master Splinter... if any one should get punished out of the four of us its me... not them... why did Mikey get punished?" Splinter was at a loss of words after his son was done talking, then he said "Michelangelo didnt get punished my son... he got grounded... I knew he lied to me in the dojo the other day... he stutters when he lies... he came to me early this morning and told me the truth..." "so at weapons practice? That was just to get me to confess?" "yes my son, I was trying to get you to come forward, so when you didnt and asked to go for a walk, I knew where you would go. I also followed you and Leonardo, that is why when you two returned I was outside the lair." Raph looked up and said "you knew? Why didnt you call me out on it?"

Splinter gave his son a look and said "because I could hear you and Leonardo last night talking, I knew what you were planing, so I gave you a chance my son. But I also gave you a chance from the beginning but you lied to me then, and I knew about the other few lies you told as well. As you know I do not tolerate lying, this is the first time a lie has spread to all four of you. And as you know, you must be punished." Raphael gulped and knew what was coming, Splinter motioned for his son to stand before him, getting up slowly he walked to his father. Looking nervously at the paddle he asked "father, did Donnie really get that thing when he got in trouble?" Splinter knew he was talking about the previous year, "no, the reason he could not sit for a while was because in his haste to leave the dojo he tripped over the mat and fell on his butt." "but if he lied and didnt get it then why do I?"

Splinter turned his son around to face him and said "Raphael, not telling me about being seen, was dangerous, going out there alone not knowing how deep the water was, was also dangerous. Facing those humans was dangerous as well, you are being punished more severely because you put your self in danger one too many times. I had hoped I would never have to use the discipline paddle, but you have given me no choice in the matter." in saying he turned his son around and took the paddle in his hand, he could see his son stiffen up. Splinter didnt like to spank his children, never really believed in it, but this child he knew was going to be stubburn one and need a little more tough love then the other turtles.

Splinter waited a moment and then brought it down 9 times to Raph's lower shell, not hard but enough to get his point across. After it was over he turned his son around and saw tears in his eyes, Raphael stood on trembling knees and Splinter took him into his arms. "Raphael, you know I love you, it hurts me to punish you this way. When you asked for your self to be punished in place of Leonardo that is what I did... you would have only received 5 swats if you hadn't asked." Raph looked at his father and fiddled with his robe "so... Leo would have gotten four swats?"

Splinter looked down at his son and said "yes, he would have. But Raphael, know that actions have consiquences, I care about all of you." Raph looked up again at him and told him "i don't regret taking Leo's place, we are brothers... we have to stand up for one another." Splinter smiled at him and gave him a hug and told him, "you are grounded for three weeks my son, like I told Leonardo you two will take over all of the chorse for that time. You are not to watch television for that time either." Raph nodded out of respect and said "Hai Sensei." "now go to your room, I will come for you at dinner time." nodding Raph hurried from the room, he stopped by Leo and Donnie's room, poking his head in he said to Leo "Leo... I am sorry I got you in trouble you too Don. And Leo you would have gotten 4 swats..." Leo frowned and said "so you took them for me? Why?" "because brother's have to stick together no matter what." just then they could hear "Raphael..." "gotta go!" Raph ran from the room and headed to his own...

Later that night there was a soft knock on Raph's door, "yea?" Leo stepped inside and climbed up to the top bunk "Raph why did you do that?" Raph knew what he was refering too "Leo, I know that Splinter may choose you to be the leader some day, and that he is hardest on you... but... I wasnt about to let you watch me be spanked... I knew if I told Splinter to punish me then he would..." "why? I don't get it? I mean it was an opportunity for you to watch me get in trouble..." "Leonardo! Listen to me, your my brother, we have to stick together... look I know I get gelouse some times but I... I know that what I did was wrong... but I couldn't stand by and watch you get hurt by those punks... I just couldn't... we may fight and argue but we are brothers first man, that is what is most important. I will stand up for you if I know you didnt do anything terribly wrong, the reason we were both gonna get swatted was because we put our selves in danger... the thing is... I put you in danger... I was thinking of my self and went into the water blind I didnt check to make sure no one was around. My heart was racing when I came up out of that water and saw those guys there, I knew I had to protect you."

Leo looked down at the floor and told his brother "ya know... I must be getting over my fear of hights..." "how do ya figure that?" "this is twice now I have climbed up here and looked down and didnt almost feel like getting sick or panicky." they both chuckled at that, there was a soft knock on the door again and Leo dived under his brother's blanket. Splinter walked in "Raphael have you seen Leonardo?" Raph pointed right behind him, Splinter walked up to the bed and said "Leonardo, my son why are you up?" Leo looked around his brother's shell and said "i had to ask Raph something..." "couldnt it had waited till morning?" shaking his head he said "no... I was having too hard of a time sleeping." looking between his sons he said "is the air clear in here now?" the boys looked at each other and Raph said "Hai Sensei." Splinter smiled at him and said "Leonardo, you need to return to bed my son." Leo nodded and scooted to the edge of the bed, Splinter went to grab him and he said "i can do it father..." Raph smiled and told his father "he is over coming his fear Master."

From that day on the two always for the most part stood up for each other, they both remembered that day well, as did the other two. Splinter didnt have to use the paddle to many more times in the future and by the time the turtles hit their teens Splinter got rid of it all together.

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**A/N: there is chapter 2 guys! I know it is mentioned that Donatello lied first but this was the first dangerous situation lie for the turtles and it involved more then one turtle. In case no one caught it, for this story only Raphael is the oldest. It is just how I want it for this story, also this is kind of my contribute to the 30 year annivarsary for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles... so the final chapter will be something awsome and it will be posted on August 8th.**


	10. First Horror Movie

**First Horror Movie**

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It was rare for Splinter to take the young turtles to the surface when he went scavenging but the times he did he would take one some times two of them at once. He decided to take Raphael and Michelangelo, the two 6 year olds stayed close to their father as they made their way to the junk yard. Raph looked back at his brother who followed close behind "Mike, you need to keep up..." frowning Mikey told him "i am, its not my fault I am short."

Splinter looked back at his sons and said "boys, remain silent." the two quieted down as they got to the surface, they walked the rest of the way in silence. It was chilly up top since it was late October, Splinter had the boys in long coats that he found for them so they wouldn't get too cold. Once at the junk yard Splinter turned to them and said "boys you may wander around but be sure not to go to far, and remain silent." they nodded and went in search of anything they could find, digging threw the mounds of junk piled Raphael found a box of movies.

He opened up his bag and began putting the various movies in there. They were old and still in fair condition, he found one that had an evil looking dog on the front of it, he sounded out the word in his mind 'C-Cujo'_ not sure what to think he put it in his bag._ Taking a look at the other movies he found The Cure, frowning he wasn't sure what that was about. Mikey wandered over and said "wacha doing Raph?" looking over he said "i found some movies." Mikey found another box also filled with movies, looking up at his brother he asked "what does this title say?"

looking up again Raph told him getting irritated "uh... The Color Purple." giving him an are you kidding me look he asked "why would you make a movie about a color?" shrugging Raphael went back to rummaging threw the pile of tapes throwing out the broken ones. Mikey looked threw his pile again after discarding the movie he asked Raph about, he found one that had planets on it and decided that Donnie would like it and put it in his bag. Mikey found one that had a big purple dinosaur on the front, he started putting it in his bag when it was yanked out of his hands by Raph "NO! Absolutely not! You are not bringing that garbage into our home!" in saying he chucked the tape as far as he could. Mikey frowned and said "well why not?" "cause that crap's for babies."

frowning he looked threw his box again and came up with a few more: Ernest Scared Stupid, Godzilla, Spider man and Superman. Raphael held up a thick box with two tapes in it, the title read: Pearl Harbor. "hey Mike, ya think Leo would like this?" Mikey looked up and said "sure." when Raph wasn't looking he put a tape in the bag that had a giant yellow bird on the front. Giving Raph an evil smile he put the tape in the bag just as Splinter walked up "are you ready to go?" both boys looked up to him and Raph said "yep, I am ready." Mikey followed close behind his brother as they made their way back home, once there Splinter went to put supplies away. Raph and Mikey showed the others what they had gotten, Donnie was happy with the tape that Mikey had gotten him, Leo told Raph "thanks for the movie." even though he didn't know what Pearl Harbor was. Raph then told his brothers "i found a movie we can watch on Halloween!" he pulled it out and Leo as well as Donnie's eyes grew wide, Donnie told his brother "isn't that a bit old for us?"

Raph gave him an annoyed look and said "no, you are too old for us, this movie is gonna be awesome!" Donnie walked out of the room and mumbled "yea OK, when ever that makes a bit of sense I will let you know."

The following morning Mikey was the first up watching his movie he had found, he looked up at the clock and new Raphael would be waking soon, he looked behind him and saw his other two brothers come in; hitting play on the VCR the screen came to life and a big yellow bird along with a bunch of other muppets were singing the theme song. Leo rolled his eyes annoyed but went on into the kitchen, Donnie looked at Leo and told him "Leo its not a bad show for him to watch actually..." Leo just glared at him and informed him "its annoying and why does he have to keep turning the volume up?" Raph stomped out of his room and headed straight for Mikey "would you shut that thing up!" Mikey smiled up at him and said "why? Is it bugging you Raphie boy?" Raph glared at him and said "how did I not know that you found a baby show!" "actually Raph, since Mikey is behind us in his schooling this is an appropriate show for him to watch, it teaches..." the glare that Raphael was giving his second to youngest made him stop talking in mid sentence.

Donnie lowered his gaze and said softly "i was just sayin..." Mikey looked up at his eldest brother and smiled "what Raphie boy... don't like my show?" "not really! Now shut the damn thing up!" "Raphael!" Raph flinched at the sound of his father's voice turning around Splinter said to him "that language is not tolerated in this home!" Raph frowned and said "but Sensei, he woke me up.." "Raphael, the first rule of being a ninja is patience... have patience with your brother." Raph frowned and shut his mouth, he stormed into the kitchen area Leo just looked up from the table and said to his older brother "why ya gotta be mean to Mikey? He's just being good watching TV." Raph looked heatedly at his brother but decided to ignore him and sat down at the table.

Splinter walked into the room and began to make breakfast for his sons, he watched as the two in the room glared at each other, "what is the problem my sons?" the two boys looked at their father and both said at the same time "nothing." Splinter watched them cautiously as he made oatmeal for his young turtles. After breakfast they had training then free time, Raphael told his brothers "lets watch a movie..." Mikey looked over at his oldest brother and said "sure, what movie?" "one about a dog..." Leo and Donnie knew the movie but Mikey didn't, they shrugged and Donnie whispered to Leo "Raph will regret it later..." "yep." was the reply.

The four turtles gathered on the couch after Raphael had put the movie in, Leo and Donnie both knew this movie was way to scary for Mikey, they had watched scary movies before and after a talk from Splinter they both knew that watching such a movie had consequences. Two hours later and Mikey was pale and clutching a pillow rocking back and forth, Raph's eyes were wide and he kept looking around. Donnie and Leo had left half way into the movie they hadn't felt like having nightmares about a rabid dog attacking people trapped inside a car.

Late that night Raphael could hear heavy breathing and sat up in bed, he looked around and thought he saw glowing eyes in the corner of the room. Suddenly Mikey screamed and Raph jumped nearly hitting his head on the ceiling, he looked over the edge of his bed to see his baby brother tossing and turning in bed. Jumping down he shook his brother awake and said "Mike hey wake up! Mike. Its just a bad dream!" Mikey bolted up right in bed with sweat running down his face, he looked at his oldest brother and said "oh thank god that was a dream... Raph... I thought you, Donnie and Leo and Splinter got eaten by that dog!" "no Mike, we didn't, it was just a dream. Remember that movie isn't real, that dog wasn't sick or attacking those people." Mikey nodded his head and laid back down, Raph climbed the ladder back up to his bed. Even though he had just told Mikey the movie was fake, Raph couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched by a rabid dog!

Since the following morning was a Sunday there was no training, Raphael who usually was the last up, was the first up this time. He went into the kitchen and saw his father fixing tea, Splinter turned and saw his eldest son "why are you up so early?" Raph looked down at the floor, moving his foot along the ground he confessed to what he had done "I, uh... well... I wanted to... talk to you before the others got up... I did something wrong..." Splinter frowned and said "sit down my son and talk to me." he knew it was unusual for this turtle to confess to any wrong doing so it must have been bad. After sitting down Raphael said softly "I... uh... was mad at Mike... for waking me up yesterday... so I... made him... watch a movie... with me and the others... it wasn't one you would have liked." Splinter's ear twitched as he could hear approaching footsteps but he said "go on, what movie was it?"

Raphael looked down at the table and said "Cujo... the one about the dog... Mikey woke up crying last night... He barley slept last night... he kept waking up crying... I am sorry Master Splinter... punish me if you have to... but I wont ever watch that movie again." Splinter moved to the chair next to his son and placed a hand on his and told him "thank you for telling me Raphael, you did the right thing instead of trying to hide it. You see how revenge affects others, it hurts them, you now know this by using it on your brother. I will not punish you my son, you have learned your own lesson by coming to me and telling me the truth." Raph looked up into his father's eyes and said "thank you father."

Splinter reached over and gave his son a hug and said "your welcome." just then Michelangelo came into the room rubbing his eyes, "Raph? Why ya leave me? I thought I heard it again..." Raph got up and walked over to him "Mike... I am sorry, I didn't mean to make you watch that movie yesterday... I didn't mean to give you nightmares, I promise I wont do that to you again." Mikey smiled tiredly at him and said "thanks... now why did you leave me?" Raph chuckled a little and said "cause I wanted to tell Splinter what I did." "you never do that?" "i know but what I did yesterday was wrong Mike, and I stayed awake all night long thinking about what I did and how it effected you. Listening to you cry bothered me a lot, just knowing that I had hurt you, hurt me too. Your my baby brother Mikey... its my job to protect you not hurt you." Mikey smiled at him and said "its OK Raph, I forgive you... for now anyway." Splinter smiled at his sons and said "OK boys, take your places at the table, I will go wake the others for breakfast." once Splinter left the room Raph said in a low voice to his brother "you tell the others I got sentimental, and I will knock the green off ya!" "yeah, yeah, what ever Raphie boy! You say that all the time!" with that both brothers laughed and waited for the others.

_Nine years later..._

while out on patrol Michelangelo was reading a comic when he should have been paying attention to the map on the wall. Donnie told him "Mikey, you need to pay attention to the mission!" Leo looked back and said "yea Mikey, you need to tell me what direction to go in!" Raph walked over to him and took the comic and said "yea! Why ya read this scary crap any way! Ya know it gives ya nightmares!" "no it don't Raph! I don't get scared much anymore by scary comics!" Donnie and Leo looked at each other and Raph said "really? Maybe we need to watch Cujo again?" Mikey's eyes grew wide with the memory of that movie and said "no... OK Raph I will stop reading that! Well while we are on missions any way!" Raph sighed and said "fine what ever..." throwing the comic back at his brother and went back to his station. Leo continued to stare at him "what Leo? Would you concentrate on the road!" BOOM they hit something just as Raph was talking "nice... Leo nice..." getting out they looked around and Mikey jumped into Raph's arms screaming, frowning Raph dropped him and said "what the shell is the matter with you?" looking at the front of the Shell Razor they saw a large dog laying on the pavement, Donnie walked over and checked on the dog. "he's fine Mikey, no broken bones or anything like that." the dog sat up then and licked Donnie on the face "aw... gross!"

Leo laughed and Mikey jumped back in terror "Don watch out! It will hurt you!" Leo rolled his eyes and said "Mikey... that was a movie! Come on lets take this dog and drop him off at a vet, he may seem fine but something could be wrong with him." Donnie and Leo lead the dog into the vehicle and with a reluctant Michelangelo in toe. Raph watched his brother and thought to himself _he wouldn't be scared right now if it wasn't for me... _"Mike, look remember what I told ya? The movie was a fake, that stuff doesn't happen in real life." the dog walked over to Mikey and licked his hand, he looked at the dog and said "i guess your not all bad are ya?" the turtles dropped the dog off at a vet office and headed for home, Mikey looked at his brothers and never worried about the movie he had seen again...

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**A/N: ****as I said in the last chapter I am going to make this last till August 8****th****. I will keep posting chapters till that date. And on the 8****th**** of August I will post a chapter that is mainly dedicated to the 30 year ****anniversary**** of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.**

**If any one has any great ideas for that final chapter please do not hesitate to give me your opinions. I have a bunch more ideas for chapters for this story, so I hope you all enjoy. I am enjoying all of your ideas that your throwing at me. I will attempt to get your ideas on here if I can, the next chapter will be dedicated to ILoveMikey15.**

**One more thing thank you all for your reviews! If it wasn't for the reviews this probably wouldn't have gotten so far.**

**One more thing, this story is based off of all three series of turtles, there is more of the 2003 and 2012 series in here then 1987, but I will work on getting it in there. **


	11. First Sibling Fight

**First Sibling Fight**

**A/N: this story goes out to ILoveMikey15 for the idea! **

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Raphael was only eight years old and he was impatient with his youngest brother, Michelangelo was hyper and loved to be the center of attention. Splinter had always had trouble controlling Raphael's temper, the child showed a short fuse at a young age. Splinter noticed that today Raphael's fuse was extremely short, he was snapping at his brothers and showing no patience at all. The young turtle had visited the time out corner several times today already but nothing seemed to work.

Splinter could hear Raphael and Michelangelo talking, not making out the conversation, but he could hear their voices.

In the next room Michelangelo was playing with some toys on the floor when Raphael came into their room and said "out Mikey." Mike looked up at him and said "no Raph... I was here first! Besides I ain't bothering you!" Raphael loomed over his brother and said forcefully "you bother me just by being in the same room! Now leave!" Mikey stood up and said stubbornly "no!" Raphael picked up one of Mikey's toys and sent it flying across the room and pushed the shorter turtle towards the door "i said leave Michelangelo!"

just then Leonardo entered the room "Raph! Stop yelling at him! He didn't do anything wrong!" Donnie stepped up beside him "yea. Mike was just playing with his toys! And why are you being so hateful today?" Raphael spun around and said to his two younger brothers "just all of you leave! Its none of your damn busyness Donnie, just go away!" Leonardo was about to say something further but was interrupted. "Raphael! That is enough!" they all looked up as their father gently pushed his two middle children out of the way and approached Raphael, "That is enough, what is the problem?" Mikey shouted "HE TRIED TO MAKE ME LEAVE THE ROOM AND ALL I WAS DOING..."

Splinter held his hand up to silence Michelangelo "my son, I can hear you, and I was talking to your brother. Raphael what is the meaning of this?" Raph looked up at his father and gulped, he had been in trouble three times today for yelling at his brothers, he knew he was in some serious trouble when his father's ears were flat, tail twitching, and his arms crossed. When he didn't answer he turned to the other three "go to the living room please, so I can talk to your brother." Raphael watched his brothers leave, now wishing they would just stay in the room. Splinter looked down at his son as Leonardo closed the door and said sternly "Raphael, what is the problem today? Why are you allowing your anger fly at your brothers like this?" Raph sat on Mikey's bed and looked up and sighed, "i don't know... I, I guess I just feel so cramped in here. I am board out of my head. I guess I just don't know what to do..."

"Raphael, just because your board doesn't give you the right to be hateful with your brothers. If I hear even one more argument out of you, we will have another 'talk' and this time it will be in the dojo and not in your room. Am I clear?" Raphael gulped and nodded slowly, "Raphael am I clear." Splinter wanted a verbal response not just a head nod "Hai Sensei."

Splinter nodded his approval and said "very good my son, now you will assist me with fixing lunch for all of you." Raph knew this was just to keep an eye on him but he followed his father out to the kitchen, he noticed his brothers on the floor behind the couch playing a board game they watched Raph walk by behind their father. Raph just looked at them as he went by, Splinter stood by the refrigerator and said to his son "OK, we are just going to have sandwiches and chips for lunch, I need you to get the lettuce, tomato, and meat out." "Hai Sensei."

Raph didn't dare say more then that, he got out what his father asked of him, and handed it to his father, "now get me the mustard, ketchup and mayonnaise." nodding this time Raph got out the rest and then once Splinter was working on the sandwiches Raphael set the table. He got the napkins and set them out as well as five plates, "anything else Sensei?" Raph asked quietly, Splinter looked down at him and said "not for the moment, oh yes, get the chips out of the cabinet." Raphael looked up and saw he would have to get a chair, so he took Donnie's chair and dragged it over and stood on it and reached two different types of chips. Putting the chair back he then took the chips to the table and laid them down, Splinter looked down at him again and handed him two sandwiches "place these on Leonardo and Donatello's plates." he put the two sandwiches where they went and then Splinter turned with the remaining three "now here are the remaining three." his father left the room and Raph got out five glasses and poured water into them, after getting everything ready Splinter came back in with his brothers.

None of the turtles said a word to each other as the took their seats, "Thank you Raphael for getting the drinks." Raph nodded and said "your welcome..." Leo looked at his brother puzzled and could not understand for the life of him why his older brother was being so polite, but he choose not to ask. Donnie noticed to but figured it had something to do with the talk that his brother and their father had. Mikey just didn't care, he was still mad at Raph for yelling at him. Raph didn't like the silence so he asked "Hey Leo what game was that you were playing?" Leo looked up from his plate and said softly "uh... guess who... it was a game Donnie had found when he went up top with Sensei last week." "cool." more silence followed, Donnie looked over at his brother and asked "hey Raph... um, would you... uh like to... um help me with the toy car I found..." "i don't understand all that techno stuff Don." Splinter gave his son a warning look and then Raph said tripping over his words "u-uh y-yea sure Donnie." "OK we can go to my room after lunch and work on it if you want." Raph nodded and said "sure, that's fine." Raph knew he was walking on very thin ice with his father right now, so he caught the look his father had given him and knew it was best to accept Donnie's offer. Splinter cleared his throat and said "Donatello, your brother has to clean up the kitchen after lunch, but after he is done he can join you." "Hai Sensei, thanks."

Shortly after lunch Raphael walked to his brother's room, he knocked on the door, once Donnie replied Raph went in, Donnie was at his work table and motioned for his eldest brother to come in. "can you shut the door please? I don't want Mikey to see what I am doing." Raph nodded and shut the door, walking over and sitting down next to Donnie he said "so what do you have to do?"

Donnie held up the computer chip and said "well I have to rewire this, and fix the body." "what do you need me for?" Donnie handed him the shell of the car and said "if you would glue the wheels back on and fix the outer body with some orange paint." Raph raised his eyebrow at him "Raph... you do relies that this is the end of June... your birthday is in just a weeks time... and Mikes is two weeks away." Raph looked over at his brother's calender and sighed "i forgot..." Donnie grinned at him and said "its OK, if you want you can split this present with me?"

Raph looked at him in the eyes and asked "after how I treated you this morning why would you wanna do that?" Donnie put the chip down and said softly "Raph, no matter how much of a butt head you may be to me, I will never not be nice to you. Besides I know why your acting the way you are... I over heard what Splinter said to you..." "why cant I control this temper?" "Raph you were just born with a short fuse, and it just doesn't take much to set you off." just then there was a knock on Donnie's door "who is it?" "its Mikey." came the reply "what do you need Mike?"

"Splinter said we all need to go to the dojo for after noon training, is Raph still in there with you?" "yea, we will be there in a minute." "OK, but Splinter says to hurry!" Donnie looked over at Raph and said "like I said Raph, I don't care how you treat me, I don't treat people the way they treat me if I did then we would all be in trouble. And about your temper, well... only you can control it." unknown to Raph Donnie had made his birthday present and had hidden it in the corner of the room. Just then they could hear Splinter yell "RAPHAEL! DONATELLO! DOJO NOW!" Donnie looked at his brother again and stood up "we better get going since your already on thin ice with him and I don't want to be the one to get you into more trouble today."

Once in the dojo Splinter asked "what took you boys so long?" Donnie spoke up first "sorry Sensei it was my fault, we were working on a project, and didn't pay attention to the time."

Splinter frowned at his son and said "i sent Michelangelo to get you five minutes ago." "i know, and I am sorry." Raph stepped up and said "Master Splinter, we are both sorry, I got interested in our project and I asked him if we could finish it before we came in here because we were almost done." Donnie looked over at his brother, _did he actually just tell a half lie for me? _Splinter looked between his sons and said "both of you ten flips for being late." Leo watched his brothers, he knew Raph tried to protect Donnie from getting into trouble, but Raph was already in enough trouble for his attitude.

After their flips were done Donnie whispered "please don't get into more trouble Raph, I know you half lied." "trust me I will be good." as they walked over to their remaining brothers Splinter told them "OK, now pair off for sparring Raphael, Michelangelo and Donatello and Leonardo." Raph got into a fighting stance across from his youngest brother, as they sparred Mikey kept talking in a low voice to his older brother "so Raph, why so distant these past couple hours? Frustrated cause you cant kick me out of our room? Afraid of getting into trouble again?" Raph could feel his temper start to raise and he told his brother in a low voice as well "enough Mikey!" "awe poor Raphie..." Raph frowned and did a round house kick knocking his brother on his shell hard, "i said that was enough!" Mikey went to get up and Raph pinned him down, "you had better stop taunting me... or else." Splinter had seen the entire show and walked over to them "Raphael! That is enough, let your brother up." "but he was..." "Let him up." Raph could hear the warning in his Master's voice and took his knee off of Mikey's plastron. "Raphael, you are to go to your room, and stay there the rest of the night. I will have dinner brought to you. If you can not control your self around others then you will be alone."

Raph glared at his brother, but did what he was told, feeling his other two brothers eyes on his shell he just kept walking. Once in his room he slammed the door shut, he let out a frustrated shout and punched the wall.

Some time later Donnie walked to his brother's room and took him some dinner, when he opened the door he saw Raph sitting in a chair fuming "Raph, how ya holding up?" Raphael looked up at his younger brother and said "how does it look? Why is it that Mike gets away with every thing and I get the blame? Why? Is it because he is the damn baby?" Donnie put the plate down on the desk beside his brother and said "Raph, I know Mikey taunted you in the dojo, I told Splinter what he did. I am not usually one to be a tattler but in this case where you are skating on thin ice I tried to defend you. Splinter has Mikey in time out right now, he said that you could come out for a short time before bed after you eat." Raph nodded and grinned at him "thanks Donnie." giving him a slight smile Donnie told him "no problem, see you in a little bit." Raph looked over at his plate after Donnie left the room _what is wrong with me today? Why am I taking everything out one every one? Thank god that Donnie understands me... I just wish the others would forgive so easily... _

After he finished eating he picked up his plate and took it back to the kitchen where Splinter and Leonardo were doing dishes. Leo turned around and said "hey Raph." "hey." he handed his plate off to his brother as Splinter turned around "are you feeling better now?" "yes, I do." "you may come out of your room until bed time, but we will have our little talk if you begin to fight with your brothers again." "Hai Sensei." Raph went to find his brothers, he found them sitting on the couch watching TV, Donnie looked up "hey Raph, wanna watch a movie with us?" Mikey glared up at his brother before scooting over closer to Donnie, Raph sat down next to Mikey and they began to watch a movie together. After a while things seemed normal but then Mikey had to start in again, he put one arm up as though he was stretching and tapped his hotheaded brother.

Raph just swatted the offending hand away and tried to ignore him. Splinter and Leo came in to join them, Splinter noticed Mikey's hand and asked "Michelangelo, are we having problems with keeping our hands to our selves?" Mikey looked over at his father and quickly put his hand in his lap but not before knocking Raph in the head with his elbow. Raph felt his temper raising again and got up, Splinter didn't ask as he watched his hot tempered son storm off back to his room. Looking back at Mikey he said "Michelangelo, that was uncalled for, Donatello you are to sleep in Raphael's room tonight Michelangelo you sleep in Leonardo's room." both turtles got up and went to their respective rooms to get their pillows and blankets, Mikey entered his room to find Raph laying on his own bed reading. "huh? Didn't know you could read Raph... guess your smarter then I thought."

Raph peered over the edge of his bed and looked down at his taunting brother, what are you doing with that stuff?" "oh this, Splinter told me to sleep in Leo's room, and Donnie has to sleep in here." "good then maybe I will get some peace and quiet now." "your no picnic to live with either chuckle head!" "would you stop, what has been your problem lately?" Mikey shrugged and said "i ain't the one who's been blowing my lid here lately, that's all you Raphie boy." Raph jumped down off his bunk and said to his shorter brother "that's only because you start every fight then I get blamed for it." "well Raph, if you keep raising your voice like that then Splinter will come in here and you will really be in trouble..." Raph couldn't understand why his baby brother caused him so much trouble, they used to be close but here lately they had been drifting apart. "Mikey, why have you been acting like this? You never used to give me trouble." Mikey shrugged and left the room never answering his question. Donnie appeared a few minutes later, "hey Don." Donnie put his blanket and pillow on Mikey's bed and said to him "do you know what Mike's problem is lately? He keeps taunting you." "i asked him the same thing."

After they talked for a while they both went to bed, some time during the night Donnie and Raph were woken up by Leo shouting "MICHELANGELO! KNOCK IT OFF! AND I MEAN NOW!" they both looked at each other before running to Leo's room, they both entered the room with Splinter close behind "what is going on here?" Leo answered "Mikey keeps batting me in the head with his pillow while I am trying to sleep. When I ignored him he came up here and began to hit me on the head." Splinter looked down at his youngest son and said to him "are you doing this to Raphael as well?" Mikey shook his head and told him "no, that is what he does to me." Raph's mouth gaped open and he said "i do not!" Splinter put his hand up silencing him "Michelangelo, come to the dojo, I think we need to have a discussion about your behavior lately." Raph and Donnie's eyes grew wide as they watched Mikey leave the room, the two looked up at their third brother and Leo asked "so Raph, this is what you have to put up with every night?" "just about... I haven't gotten more then a couple hours of sleep here and there lately." Leo frowned and asked "then why didn't you tell Splinter the first time he did it?" giving his brother a knowing look he said "because I am not a snitch... I am not running to daddy with every little problem that comes my way. Leo he ain't always gonna be here to fight our battles for us, we are brothers... you don't rat on them no matter what..."

Leo felt like a horses butt for telling on Mikey now, but something needed to be done, Donnie handed Raph Mikey's blankets and pillow and said "i don't think he will be remaining here tonight, I will go get my stuff out of your room." Donnie left and Raph followed close behind Splinter came from the dojo and told his sons "ah so you are switching back good, I was just coming to tell you that. Raphael once you have unloaded your burden please come to the dojo." Raph felt his face grow pale and Splinter noticed "not to worry my son, you are in no trouble." he watched his father disappear back into the dojo and he walked back to his room. Once he put the pile back on his brother's bed Raph went to the dojo. He saw his baby brother sitting on the floor in front of their father, he could tell the smaller turtle had been crying. Splinter motioned for his son to enter, kneeling down next to his brother Splinter said to the boys "there seems to be something wrong between the two of you, I want you two to work it out tonight. Neither of you are going to leave this room till it is resolved, do I make my self clear?" both boys looked at each other before they answered "Hai Sensei." Splinter went over to the other side of the room to watch how this panned out.

Raph looked at his youngest brother and said "so what has been your problem Mikey? Why have you been getting me into trouble?" "cause, I have nothing better to do. I don't know Raph, I am just board here lately." "so am I but you don't have to take it out on me." "why not, your just a hot head that cant control your temper." "and your just a whiny baby that cant seem to do anything right." Mikey gave his brother a hurt look and said "that was mean Raph." Raph frowned at his brother and said "Mikey, look, you need to stop acting like a baby! My god you have been nothing but annoying for weeks now! You go crying to Splinter or one of the others when something doesn't go your way! You need to grow the heck up!"

Mikey looked up to his brother and said threw his tears "I HATE YOU!" Mikey took off out of the dojo, leaving Raph in his wake. Raph stared after his brother in shock, he couldn't believe he had just said that to his baby brother. He flinched when he felt Splinter put a hand on his shoulder "why did you say those things to him?" "I-i don't know, it just came out." "in the morning you will talk to him again, but for now go back to bed." when his son didn't move Splinter reached down and swatted his son lightly on the shell to get his attention, Raph jumped and ran out of the dojo.

Come morning Raphael walked tiredly into the kitchen, his brother had wound up sleeping on the sofa, due to the argument they had in the dojo Mikey didn't look at his oldest brother. Leo looked up from his cereal and said to his older brother "Sensei went out for supplies, he told me to tell you he went out." Raph nodded and sat down, "Leo, can I ask you something?" "sure." "have you ever said something you regret saying to some one?" Leo frowned and said "i don't remember if I have or not?" Donnie walked in behind Raph and said "i remember one time Leo, why what happened in the dojo last night?" Raph looked up at Donnie from where he was siting and said "i said something to Mikey that I should never have said to him... now he hates me... he even said it him self." Donnie gave him a sympathetic look and said "Raph we all say things we don't mean, trust me he doesn't hate you." "yes I do mean it!" all three looked up when Mikey walked in, "Raph I meant what I said last night! And don't you even think I forgive you for it either!" Mikey ran out the lair door, all three brother's looked on in silence then Leo said to Raph "you better get him." nodding Raph took off out of the lair following his baby brother, "Mikey! Wait up!" Raph ran down the tunnel looking for his brother, he ran for another ten minutes or so and found no sign of his missing brother. "Mikey! Mike! Where are you!" the only thing that Raph could hear was the sound of water flowing in the tunnels and traffic over head. He looked around taking in his surroundings, _crap, I went too far... I am way out of bounds of Splinter's boundaries... _he kept walking forward hoping and praying he would find Mikey, he kept on even when it started getting cooler the further he went. He had know idea how far he had gone but he knew he was at least a couple miles from the lair. _Surly he didn't go this far out. I had better turn back... Splinter will be getting home any time._ Turning around he kept walking forwards, he saw some shadows up ahead that had not been there before. He noticed that there wasn't any water this far down the tunnel so he jumped down and stayed close to the wall. Several men walked by. Raph kept silent as they passed, he waited till he could no longer hear their foot steps anymore before coming back to the walk way.

He was sure he had been gone for hours now, he could hear something when he thought he was coming up on the lair, "Mikey! Mikey is that you?" but he received no response as he kept going, he found the lair door and peeked inside, he saw two of his brothers, but the expressions on their faces were ridged and scared. He looked further in the door and didn't see any sign of his father or brother, he closed the door and took off going in the opposite direction of where he had started. He could hear more sounds as he headed in this direction, not making heads or tails of them he kept going. He stopped when he could hear a deep throaty growl coming from across the water, looking over he saw green glowing eyes.

Taking off running he ran as fast as his legs would take him, when he looked back he slammed right into some one. He fell onto his shell and looked up into the very angry, and very worried father. Raph gulped hard as Splinter said sternly "what are you doing out here?" Raph got up and said with fear in his voice "I- um- Mikey... he ran off... I went to find him." "Raphael, I have already found him, but he is injured, I came back to look for you." Raph felt some relief, "Splinter... I, I'm sorry... I just... I couldn't... I didn't..." putting a hand up he said "Raphael, you can explain your self in the dojo, now move." Raph felt his stomach drop as he walked back to the lair with his father, they walked in silence until Splinter grabbed his shoulder stopping him "Raphael, stop... I sense we are not alone..." Raph couldn't hear anything, but then he heard it... low growling... "i could hear that before... that is why I was running when I ran into you..." Raph whispered, nodding Splinter picked his son up and had him hold onto his back. Taking his walking stick and walked carefully forward; Splinter noticed a large male dog up ahead and looked above him at the low hanging pipes. Taking a hold of Raphael he told him "hold on to that pipe, and stay up there." Raph nodded and did what he was told, the dog lunged at Splinter who knocked him away with his walking stick. After several minutes Splinter chased the dog off, and told his son "OK the dog is gone." walking back over he helped his son down and they walked home.

Once back in the lair Donnie and Leo looked up, they saw their brother climbing off of Splinter's back and they both jumped up and Leo asked "are you OK?" "yea you have been gone for several hours! What happened?" Raph was about to answer when Splinter spoke up "Raphael, go to the dojo, Leonardo, Donatello remain in here." Raph swallowed hard, he knew the punishment for leaving the lair, and he knew how harsh the punishment was too...

Once in the dojo Splinter shut the door and turned to his son, "Raphael, I am disappointed in you, before I make any judgments I want to know what happened to make you leave the lair." Raph swallowed hard and said softly "well... it started this morning... Leo and Donnie asked me what had happened last night and why Mikey was mad at me... Mike and I had a fight Sensei... that is what started it... then this morning the others were trying to tell me that Mikey didn't mean what he said... but then he came in and said he meant every word... and then he took off. Leo suggested I go look for him, so I did... I could have waited for you to come back... but... I was scared..." Splinter had sat down while his son was talking and said to him "what were you scared of?" Raph looked away and said very softly "of you being mad at me for not trying to stop him... I, I wanted to find him... I looked for a long time... I started to come back... but I didn't see you or Mikey in the lair. So I went the opposite direction I had been going in... that was when I heard that dog and ran into you." Splinter nodded and said "I see your point of view on this Raphael, but you went in the wrong direction to begin with. Your brother had been near the surface when I found him, I don't know for how long but he was climbing up a ladder. I think that dog frightened him, he got injured because he fell off of the ladder, I wasn't fast enough to catch him."

Raph looked into his father's eyes and asked "is he OK?" "scrapes and bruises, nothing that time wont heal. Your heart was in the right place my son, but I would not have been upset with you if you had waited for me. When I found him I was on my way back from the surface, he got punished for wandering so far from home. I have also come to a decision my son, it is time for the four of you to have your own rooms. The two rooms across from the rooms you currently share will be cleaned out for two of you to move into."

Raph looked up at his father once more and asked "am I going to be punished? And thank you Sensei I think separate rooms would be great." Splinter was silent for a moment before saying "no, but you are grounded for leaving the lair, I know the punishments are normally harsher, but I am making an exception in your case. You left out of concern for your brother, that I can not punish you harshly for." "for how long?" "three weeks, no TV." "Hai Sensei." Raph left the dojo and found Mikey in their room laying on his side in his bed with tears running down his face. Mikey looked over at Raph "where were you?" "where was I? Where were you? Mike I went out looking for you." "why? don't you hate me?" "no Mikey I could never hate you, you may be annoying at times; but I will never hate you not ever." Mikey sat up the best he could, "I'm sorry Raph... for everything... I don't hate you... I never did... I was just mad." Raph sat down next to his brother "i know that Mikey, that is why I went out to find you. Now matter what happens Mikey I will always love you, you can be the biggest bone head to me and I will still love you. We are brothers, its in our nature to fight and bicker." Mikey gave him a hug and said "did Splinter tell you we were getting our own rooms?" "yep, I will be happy, cause then I wont have some knuckle head waking me up in the middle of the night!" they laughed and enjoyed the moment before evening training began. They both learned a valuable lesson on brother hood...

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**A/N: sorry about the late update, I was gonna update yesterday but I was exhausted after a long hard day at work. 12 hour shifts in nursing can wear a person out. Any way this goes out to ILoveMikey15, this is for you! **


	12. First Sign of Puberty

**First sign of Puberty**

**A/N: a huge thank you to JadeKurosaki for the idea for this chapter! ****I have a couple of ideas for this story, so its going to be about Donnie and Mikey showing signs of puberty. I'm not changing the rating, I wont go into certain details or anything so its still going to be OK for younger readers.**

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Thirteen year old Donatello kept to himself about how he had been feeling lately, he sat up in his bed and kept feeling different. His lower regions kept pressing against his shell, he noticed he was getting slightly taller in the past couple of weeks. Getting up Donnie went out to the kitchen, he noticed Splinter sitting at the table, "good morning Sensei." Splinter looked up and put one ear back, "Donatello do you feel alright?" Donnie frowned and said "yea, why?" Leo looked up from his cereal and said "cause your voice... its all squeaky and sounds different."

Donnie frowned but cleared his throat "I'm fine, its just been doing this a lot lately." Splinter frowned and said to Leonardo "do not tease him my son, I believe I know what is wrong." Donnie sat down and asked "what is wrong with me?" looking between his sons he said "Donatello, would you come with me to the dojo." Leo frowned and watched them leave and saw Raph enter "what's with them?" "Donnie's voice has changed and Splinter went to go talk to him." Raph laughed and said "oh, yea OK, um Leo he is having 'the talk' with Splinter." Leo frowned and asked "what's 'the talk'?" Raph laughed and said "i will let Splinter talk to you about that one... it has something to do with starting puberty... every one goes threw it... evidently Donnie is going threw it before you." Leo frowned and looked towards the dojo...

Splinter sat down on the floor and motioned for his son to do the same "Donatello, how have you been felling when you wake up of a morning?" Donnie flushed bright red and lowered his head, "this is why I wanted to speak to you in privet my son, you embarrass easily." Donnie stayed looking down and whispered low enough Splinter could not hear him

"Donatello... my son, you can speak to me... I was a teenager once too." Donnie looked up at his father and asked "did, you... did you ever... um... wake up and... um... have this weird feeling..." "what feeling my son?" "oh... you know... down there..." Splinter smiled inwardly as to what his intelligent son was getting at, "yes my son I have... its normal... you are going threw puberty my son, what else have you been feeling?" "well, I noticed I have grown taller then Mikey, and my voice has been weird. And I... uh... have been having weird dreams..." "what kind of dreams?" Splinter had an idea he just wanted to confirm what he was thinking "well...uh... its too embarrassing..." "if you are not ready to tell me then I will not push further... but if it is about what I THINK its about, then you are going to have these dreams more often." "why?" "its part of growing up my son, the feeling you are having, are they towards women?" Donnie nodded and Splinter chuckled "my son, when a man loves a woman they will... be together... so to speak, but it is not to be done before marriage." "but you said that we can never go to the surface? So what then?" "it will be alright my son, come sit by me... we will meditate on this matter further."

Meanwhile Michelangelo had just woken up, he walked out of his room he wasn't sure what that dream was about but it sure made him feel weird. He went to the kitchen and saw his two oldest brothers, "where's Splinter and Donnie?" both looked at him and Raph said to him "they are in the dojo... but I wouldn't interrupt they are having a talk." frowning Mikey asked "what kind of talk?"

Raph laughed and said "about the birds and the bees..." "why would they be talking about birds and bees?" Leo tried not to laugh as Raph said "they ain't, its just a figure of speech." confused Mikey asked "so what are they talking about?" Raph had just explained everything to Leo so now Leo was up to speed, looking at Leo, Raph said to his baby brother "i am NOT having that talk with you!" "Raph, did you notice his voice is different too? I think he does need to go talk to Splinter." Raph got up and took Mikey's arm and said "come with me knuckle head."

Raph lead his baby brother to the dojo, he knocked once and waited "Enter." was the reply Raph walked in and saw Donnie meditating and said to his father "Master Splinter, uh... Mikey's voice is funny too... and he apparently had weird dreams last night." Splinter nodded and motioned for Michelangelo to enter the dojo, "thank you Raphael, please shut the door, do I need to have a talk with Leonardo too?" "nah I got that area covered." raising an eyebrow and deciding he didn't want to know he said "alright my son." Raph left the room and Mikey sat in front of Splinter, "so why were you talking about birds and bees?" Splinter shook his head and said "we were talking about 'birds and the bees' Michelangelo." "whats that mean?" "what type of dream did you have last night?" "well I was watching this movie and this girl came on and I started to get this weird feeling..." "what kind of feeling?"

Donnie had slipped from his meditation and opened one eye, he saw Mikey sitting there and he shook his head "Michelangelo, did you feel emotional towards this woman on TV?" "well... I don't know I just know that my..." Splinter put his hand up and said "don't go into details... this is G rated after all." Mikey looked confused and said to him "well... all I know is I felt funny down there..." "my son you have hit puberty too... but now is not the time to explain what the feelings are you are going through." "why not?" "cause I do not feel you will understand it." Donnie whispered "only if you go into detail maybe..." Splinter lightly wapped his son on the head and said "Donatello are you not supposed to be meditating?" looking up at his father he said "Hai Sensei." letting out a long sigh Splinter said "your brother is right." Splinter took another deep breath and said slowly "Michelangelo when two people love each other..."

Raphael and Leonardo were standing outside the dojo door listening, Leo laughed quietly and said "oh no... he is going into detail... gross." Raph chuckled just then they could hear Mikey shout "THEY DO WHAT TO MAKE BABIES!" this caused Leo and Raph to cover their ears as well as bust out laughing. Mikey came flying out of the dojo knocking his brothers down in the process, all that could be heard was "OH MY GOD! THEY DO THAT! WHY? I NEED TO BOIL MY EARS!" Raph got up and looked into the dojo to see Donnie rolling over laughing and Splinter laughing so hard he had tears running down his face. Splinter got up and walked out of the dojo looking down at his oldest he said "some how, I think he understood that." Raph laughed again and said "i think so too Sensei."

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**A/N: this is for JadeKurosaki thanks for the idea. This is going to be another two part chapter, the next one will be two years later and its a Donnie/April one. I know my rule is hatchling to 14 but I will make an exception in this case. Hope you all liked this, I laughed my butt off while typing it.**


	13. First Crush

**First Crush**

**A/N: this is part two of the last chapter, JadeKurosaki had the idea for the turtles to show signs of puberty, so I decided it would be split up into two parts. Donnie having a crush on a human girl is a sign of puberty as well so I figured I would write one based on his feelings for April. This takes place two years after 'the talk'.**

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Two years had passed since Splinter had to have 'the talk' with two of his sons Donatello accepted this and was able to understand what he was feeling Michelangelo just ignored it and went on about life. But Donatello was curious about love and wanted to explore it some more, after a fight with Krang they met a young red head named April O'Neil. Donnie had never felt anything like it, his heart skipped a beat when he first laid eyes on her now here she was living with them under their watchful eye because the Krang wanted to capture her. It had been two years since he had that awkward talk with his father.

Donnie was walking out of the lab when he saw April sitting on the couch checking her email on her laptop, he watched her for the longest time. Out of know where he felt an arm go around his shoulders "ya know, if ya wanna talk to a girl, you cant just stand around gawking at her." Donnie looked over at Raph and shoved him off, "you wouldn't understand!" "no I wouldn't, cause I wouldn't be that crazy to hook up with some chick." "then how do you know so much about girls then?" Raph pretended to buff his nails on his plastron and said "well, you know..." Leo came up beside them and said "really Raph? Really?" "well at least I ain't fraternizing with the enemy!" "no one said I was!" "i did Lame O Nardo! Besides at least Donnie here has a crush on a girl that doesn't hang out with the foot!" Donnie frowned at his bickering brothers and walked off towards the dojo, he saw his father sitting on his mat meditating. Donnie didn't want to disturb him so he walked over quietly and sat down next to him, and decided to meditate until Splinter was done himself.

Splinter had been meditating for almost an hour before he felt the presence of his second to youngest next to him. Opening one eye he noticed Donatello meditating next to him, the only time he would do this willingly is if he needed to speak to him and didn't want to bother him wile he was meditating. Splinter asked "what troubles you my son?" Donnie startled slightly and looked up at his father, "sorry to bother you... I... um... had a question for you." "such as?" "when... um... you...uh first... met um, Tang Shin... was it uh... love at first sight? Did you ever have doubts?" "yes Donatello, I had my doubts, every man does, and yes it was love at first sight." "how did you know it was love? How did you talk to her for the first time?" Splinter chuckled at the memory and said "well my son, Tang Shin and I along with Saki trained together in jiujitsu. Saki had no problem showing off for her, but she showed no interest in him. Like you my son I was much too shy to talk to her at first. One day I was sitting by a tree reading and she came up to me and struck up a conversation about the book I was reading.

She showed interest in the same things I did, we got along very well. Then a few months later my father and I had a talk about Tang Shin and he told me if I truly loved her and cared about her then I should ask her to dinner or something. **(A/N: I know nothing on Japanese traditions so bare with me.)** So a few weeks later I took my father's advice and asked her to our home for dinner, she was happy to come." Donnie looked up questioningly and asked "how old were you at the time?" Splinter smiled and said "she was around your age and I was 18, we didn't marry until she was older; 15 is just too young to get married." "what about... um those feelings you get when you see a girl? Ya know what we talked about a couple years ago."

Splinter chuckled at the memory and said "well, we controlled our selves my son. Remember that if you truly love some one, you can wait on those intimate feelings until your older." "how do you show some one you love them?" Splinter smiled and said "well, you can start off by showing her you care, like helping her with her homework. Or fixing her a nice meal, giving her flowers, or in April's case right now being there and showing concern about her father."

Donnie nodded and started to get up, "thank you Sensei." smiling Splinter told him "your welcome my son." turning to leave Donnie asked "i didn't bother you with talking about Ms. Shin did I?" "no my son, I rather enjoy remembering her, she may be gone but she lives in my heart forever." nodding Donnie left the dojo and went to find April, he didn't see her on the couch anymore nor did he see his annoying brothers. He found her in the kitchen "hey April." she jumped and turned around "oh! Hey Donnie." "whatcha doing?" "looking for something to snack on." Donnie smiled and went to the refrigerator and said "well we have some fruit in here... and uh some left over pizza... some pudding... jello. That's about all I see in there." April walked over and said "well, I guess... do you have any icecream?" Donnie looked up in the freezer and saw Neapolitan icecream. "we have Neapolitan." "that's fine." she started to take the box when he said "no... uh I will get that for ya... your our guest after all." April raised her eye brows at him but let him fix her a snack.

Splinter had left the dojo himself and could hear talking in the kitchen, he walked in and saw his son fixing two bowls of icecream for himself and April. He smiled and knew his son's heart was set on April, he had felt the same way once only on Tang Shin. He stood in the door way and watched them sit down at the table with their treat and eat. He turned to leave and saw his remaining three sons coming his way; knowing they were likely to tease their brother Splinter told them "boys, its time for some training." they looked crestfallen at him and Leo said "what about Donnie and April." "Donatello and April are busy at the moment, they can join us later, you three are to leave them alone and go to the dojo."

Donnie heard his father talking to his brothers and smiled, he was happy with April, he hoped that one day she would love him back. He half wondered if that would ever happen. April looked up at him and asked "watcha thinking about?" Donnie looked at her and blushed "uh... n-nothing." giving a nervous chuckle he just looked away and blushed.

In the weeks passing it was noticed that April and Donnie were spending more time together, one day while updating their laptops Donne got up the courage and asked "April, can I ask you something?" she smiled at him and looked up from her laptop and said "sure." Donnie looked down and then back up at her, and looked at her in the eyes, he hesitated and then asked "what do you think of me as? What I mean is, do you think of me as a friend? Or um... do you think of me as a like brother or something?" he rambled so fast April nearly missed the question entirely, she blushed and said to him "Donnie, you are like a brother to me, I like you a lot. You are more then a friend to me." Donnie felt his heart leap at that "i am more then a friend to you?" April smiled and said "yea, Donnie."

Just outside the lab door Splinter was coming to get his son and April for evening training when he couldn't help but over hear the conversation. What he heard next made him smile and his heart swell with pride as his son concurred a fear he had been having for months now...

_back in the lab..._

Donnie rubbed the back of his neck and said "April... um... I was wondering... if you... um some time... wanted to go to um... Miracomy's with me... for dinner or something?" Donnie knew that Miracomy was a blind friend that new of the turtles and didn't say a word to any one about his four favorite and unusual customers. April didn't know what to say, she couldn't believe Donnie just asked her out on a date. "will Splinter let you leave the lair with out one of your brothers?" "that I don't know... I will have to ask him." "i think if any of your brothers have to go then it should be Raph, cause he doesn't tease you as much as the other two do." Donnie felt hopeful, she hadn't said no, so the next question is... "so is this a yes?" she smiled and lightly kissed his cheek and said "yes, as long as Splinter is OK with it." he felt high as a kite as he got up and said "i will go talk to him now if that's OK?" she giggled and said "yea go ahead, I will work on the computers while your gone." he took off out of the room.

Splinter had retreated soon after April had said yes and made his way back to the dojo, he sat down just as the doors opened back up. "yes my son?" Donnie hesitantly approached his father and said "Sensei, she didn't reject me! I asked her how she felt about me and she said she liked me more then just a friend!" Speaking so fast that Splinter almost didn't catch that, he told him "did you ask her out like I suggested?" Donnie smiled wide and said "yes, and she said yes... but she wanted to make sure it was OK with you."

Splinter smiled at his son and said "i am proud of you my son, this has been a fear for you for some time now. Patience comes to those who wait. And yes, you can go on your date... but... since the Krang and Shredder are out to get April, I want your brothers to escort you." looking a little crestfallen he said "but... they will..." Splinter put his hand up, "Raphael will accompany you two inside but he is to leave you two alone, Leonardo and Michelangelo are to stay out side and keep watch for any foot or Krang that may interrupt you." Donnie smiled and said "that is great." "i will also accompany you as well but I will be outside with the others to make sure the do not interfere."

Three nights later Donnie and April sat at Miracomy's and enjoyed a meal together, Raph sat at the far end of the room and was ordered not to say a word to his brother or April. Donnie looked into her eyes and asked "so how long have you had a crush on me?" She smiled and looked away for a second then said "for a while now." Donnie smiled back and looked over at his brother then back to April "i have had a crush since I first saw you..." "when was that?" Donnie once again looked over to Raph who said "why ya keep lookin over here? Tell her Don." Donnie looked back at her and said "we were at the surface for the first time on our own, we were on a rooftop and we saw the Krang trying to kidnap you and your dad." it took forever for me to get my brother's convinced to go down to save you, it was almost to late. But thanks to my stubbornness Leo said OK and we came down and I helped rescue you." April smiled at the memory, "i remember that, I was scared of you at first... but I realized that you weren't there to hurt me..."

Raph watched his brother and was happy that his younger brother was over coming his fear and asking her out. He just only hoped that she never broke his heart after he summed up this much courage.

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**A/N: well here you have it! Chapter 13, and for all of you Donnie/April fans here is a treat! Next chapter will be something different it wont be about this but I assure you it will be very entertaining. ****I had fun writing this... see ya all later! Please review! :)**


	14. First Pet

**First Pet**

**A/N: I have had the idea for this chapter for a while now, to be warned there is plenty of hilarity that follows this author's note. The pet described is full of mischief and energy! So sit back and enjoy! **

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Six year old Michelangelo and Splinter were scavenging one evening when they could hear faint cries coming from near by. Mikey being the second most adventurous turtle out of four went to investigate, "Michelangelo, do not wander far, I hear the noises too, just leave it." Mikey waited until Splinter's back was turned then once again moved to the sound. Pushing away some piles of junk he found a puppy, couldn't have been any more then 6 to 7 weeks old. It was so small it could have fit in a tea cup with its sandy blond hair that was short, and Mikey noticed a single spot on her hip. She had a white underbelly that blanketed from around her neck as well as down its legs. He noticed she had a short stub of tail, he picked the distressed puppy up and carried it back to Splinter and said "daddy! Look what I found!" Splinter turned around and saw the tiny, dirty puppy and said "where did you find her?" "it was trapped under some junk! She was all alone and she's scared! Can we keep her? We can train her to be quiet! Please! Oh Please!" seeing the shaking puppy, Splinter sighed, "Very well, you may keep her, we are done here in the junk yard, if you keep her silent we will go find food so we can feed her properly."

After finding an abundance of food at his favorite place Splinter lead his son home with their new pet. The puppy remained silent while they searched for food, and still remained silent while they walked home. Once at the lair Mikey shouted out "guys check this! Come here!" Splinter went to the kitchen and found a couple of bowls and filled one with water and one with some food. He had been lucky to find some puppy food in the dumpster. He could hear his sons talking happily to each other about their new found friend. He went to check on them, the small puppy was wagging her tail and licking them when he walked in. "have you thought of a name for her?" the four turtles looked up and Leonardo said "we are going to call her Sandy because she is so pretty like sand is." Splinter nodded and said "she seems to like the name, now I have found news papers I want you all to help train her to use them to go potty on them." they all four said at once "yes Sensei."

in the weeks that followed the four boys took turns feeding and caring for Sandy, the small dog was full of energy and began to gain some weight. She had appearently been left to her own devices in the junk yard. Splinter had at first found the little bundle of energy annoying but when ever she was near him she would calm down. She cried at night like most young puppies do when first brought to their new home. It was clear she was very intelligent, as she picked up on simple commands early on, she even mastered using the news papers quickly. Though she was a good dog she had an ornery streak in her as well...

it was a quiet day in the lair and every one was doing their own thing, Michelangelo was having fun with Sandy playing with a rope toy that Donatello made for her. All that could be heard was Sandy's playful growls. Raphael had made her a collar out of an old leather leash they had found once, it fit her perfectly and made it easy for her to wiggle out and grow in it.

Sandy got board with her toy and scampered off in a different direction, Raphael was sitting in his room playing with some toys on the floor when the small dog came in. "hey girl, what's up?" the small pup just wagged her tail in acknowledgment and sat on the floor watching him. After a while Sandy picked up one of Raph's toys in her mouth and took off with it. "hey!" was all Raph could say before he took off after her, she ran to the couch with it, but was too short to jump up, so next to best thing was crawl under the couch. "Dang it Sandy! You know I cant reach under there!"

Sandy made no sound while Raph tried to reach her and crawled back out in the other direction. This time making her way to Donatello's room, once again she sat and watched, Donnie looked up and told her "did you take one of Raph's toys? You silly puppy." the small dog looked like she was pleased with her self and then stood and walked over to Donnie who pet her on the head. She wagged her tail and took off again, this time stopping in Leonardo's room sitting in the doorway knowing the room was off limits she watched him meditate. Sandy slowly moved her tail side to side and walked slowly in, she kept her head down and moved on her belly. She laid down at Leo's feet and stayed there for a few minutes before getting up and slowly making her way around the room. She found a book on the floor and quietly dragged it out of the room, not getting Leo's attention. Splinter had been watching the stealthy puppy from the door way and had to chuckle at the great lengths this puppy went too to get the book. She didn't even know he was behind her until he bent down and snatched the book from her mouth. She jumped and he told her softy "now now little one, stealing is not good, we do not steal in this family." the small puppy tilted her head from side to side while he talked. He smiled down at her and saw that she was still just a puppy but also saw the potential she held, though not a mutant she could be a great asset with in the future against his enemies.

_One year later..._

Splinter had been teaching young Sandy to use her stealth abilities for good, he began taking her with him when he would go scavenging training her to remain silent. But also look for any supplies, she was fast, strong and inelegant. He considered her his daughter, even though he had lost his flesh and blood daughter years ago. The small puppy didn't grow to be very big at all, she only got about the size of a small Jack Russell Terrier but still too big to be a Chihuahua. Her colors never changed and neither did her personality, she remained a great guard at night when every one slept and would alert every one if she would hear intruders. She became more Splinter's dog then the turtles, which was funny since the turtles were the ones who adopted her first. When the turtles would train Sandy would sit beside Splinter and watch, he knew this was his sons first pet but it was also his own. Even though she was a trained guard dog she still played as though she was a puppy, and Michelangelo would still teach her to swipe his brother's toys and such just to play around. Splinter saw that she made his sons happy, even from just a young puppy he could see how happy she made them.

This is why he didn't object to having her around, what surprised him was when the day came that she whined at the door to the lair. He opened it and she ran out into the sewers, when she did come back she carried something in her mouth. Splinter watched with fascination as he knelt down to her she laid a new born puppy in his hand, the puppy's eyes were open, and it looked to be too young to be away from its mother. He told her "where did you find it?"

her tail perked up and she ran back to the door, "boys I will be back." he could hear their replies and took off after the small dog. She lead him to a sewer drain where above he could hear police sirens, he climbed up the short ladder and peered out in the evening sun. he saw a few feet away a mother dog with a puppy in her mouth, she had been struck by a car... killing her own small family.

Splinter looked down at the puppy in his hand and told Sandy "i see, now why you brought it too me... you remember what I did for you." he took the newborn puppy back to the lair and found a small bowl and filled it with diluted milk and water. The small puppy was old enough to drink it up on its own; his sons entered the kitchen and Leo asked "father? Where did that little one come from?" Splinter turned and told his sons, "this little boy needs our help to survive, his family was killed above, Sandy brought him to us." Donatello walked over to the small puppy and studied him he was all black and had a white star under his chin, his fur was longer and thicker then Sandy's fur was. "i would say he is a mix breed dog like Sandy is." Raph asked "what breed though?" Splinter answered "i saw his mother, she looks like she is a mix of Lab/Pit bull." Donnie frowned and said "but that doesn't explain his long hair and the shape of his head?" Leo went to the book shelf and picked up a dog book that Raph had found several months earlier during some time above with their father. Leo flipped through the book and said "he looks like he is part St. Bernard." Splinter smiled and said "well, boys, since I adopted you four when you needed me the most and I adopted Sandy when she needed us. We will take him in as well." Raph asked "what do we name him?"

in the weeks that followed rescuing the tiny newborn from the storm drain he had been given a second chance and name in life, he was named Tango like the dance. He played and trained along side Sandy and the turtles for years to come, they lived as one big happy family.

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**A/N: yes I am a sentimental fool! I love this tear jerker stuff. The two dogs mentioned are real life dogs, Sandy is the dog on the picture next to the title of this story and on my profile. Tango... he was a rescue dog that I found... sadly he did not make it... four years ago he had started to come down with mange, I didn't have the funds to take care of him so I found him a home where the people said they would treat him... sadly they lied to me... he was only 5 months old and they put him down. He was only in the first stage, he only had slight hair loss on his face... but I learned you can not save every animal you rescue.**

**I felt that Michelangelo would be the most likely turtle to discover a puppy and want to keep it. :) hope you liked it. The next chapter will be more adventurous!**

**Also if you would like me to include Sandy into more stories let me know, she is an ornery little dog and is full of energy.**


	15. First Cup of Coffee

First Cup of Coffee

**A/N: sorry for any errors in this, my laptop is down so now I have to do this on my Android tablet. Bare with me, I have never done this before on a tablet.**

**A/N2: I Had to re-upload this chapter and probably others as well, I was going back over the story and saw how many errors my tablet had made to this. How I never got any flames is beyond me.**

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Donatello knew it was gonna be a long night seeing as his older brother had broken the television once again, this was becoming a bad habit, there was a knock on the door.

Turning he saw his father enter "Donatello, you need to get some rest my son."

Looking up at his father he replied "if I don't get this done then I will have to hear Leo and Mikey complain about it till it gets fixed."

Splinter gave him a serious look and said "I will deal with them, you get to bed, that's an order."

Donatello got up and went to his room laying down he listened to the sound of his father turning in for the night. Once he heard his fathers' door shut he waited a little longer till he knew he was sound asleep, Donnie really didn't wanna listen to his brothers complaining so he got up. And snuck quietly into the kitchen. He knew Splinter had some instant coffee hidden away, once he got some water hot he poured it over four spoonfuls of instant coffee not realizing it was too much.

The next morning Leonardo was headed for the bathroom when he noticed the lights were on in the workshop, peaking in he saw his very energetic brother hard at work, stepping inside he asked "were you up all night?"

Turning around Donnie said "No Leo, I have only been up a couple of hours."

Raising his brow he was about to speak again when a voice behind him said "Leonardo, go to the kitchen, I would like a word with your brother."

Donnie looked at his father questioningly and asked "I know you said to go to bed but I was almost done so I wanted to..."

Splinter cut him off, "Are you telling me you have been up all night?"

Frowning Donatello replied "No, I have only been up for a couple extra hours."

Splinter motioned for his son to look at the clock on the wall 7:30am. Donatello felt his face grow pale as he realized he had indeed been up all night long.

Donnie told his father "That clock must be off,cause its only 11:00."

Splinter stroked his beard and Donnie knew he was getting angry by this gesture, "Donatello, you need to learn to pay attention to your surroundings and not get so distracted. How is it you do not look tired for being up so long?"

Donnie didn't want to tell his father it was because of coffee so he told him "Sorry Sensei I guess I just wasn't tired last night."

Splinter could tell his son was hiding something but he didn't push it. "Since you seem to have so much energy, you will clean the kitchen after practice this morning and you will run three extra laps during practice." Donnie knew he would be too tired to do that now that the coffee was wearing off but he didn't argue "Hai Sensei." Was all he could say.

During practice he could feel himself wearing out, but thankfully he was paired with Leonardo who knew his brother was up all night and showed mercy on him during their sparring session. When practice was over Donnie trudged to the kitchen and began cleaning, looking around he knew he was alone so he made another cup of coffee. With in minutes he felt his 11 year old body wake up, with renewed energy, Donatello, with ninja like speed, cleaned the entire kitchen. Still feeling wide awake he began to clean the entire lair, when Splinter came out of his meditation he noticed his son moving at lightning speed around the lair.

Going into the kitchen he found a cabinet part way open, frowning he opened it and found his coffee canister had been moved, after opening it he found it half empty, understanding dawned the rat as he called out "Donatello, come here."

Donnie walked into the kitchen to see his father holding the coffee canister, he gulped and started to back up when Splinter said "ah, sit."

Donnie sat down across from his father and took a big breath, Splinter told him "Why did you get into my coffee my son?"

Donnie shrugged and said "I just wanted some extra energy so I could fix the TV... then after practice I was almost too tired to do much else so I made one more cup."

Splinter noticed his sons eyes were unfocused and he couldn't sit still, "How many spoonfuls did you use? And in what size cup?"

Donnie got up and got down the cup he used that was now clean and said "4 scoops each time."

Splinter let out a sigh and placed his hand over his face, standing up he said "hold out both hands." Splinter watched his sons hands shaking, he knew it was from one of two reasons first the coffee and second fear of getting into trouble. "Donatello i am not going to punish you for this but know that you have had not two cups of coffie but that equivillant to eight cups. You only needed one scoop for this small tea cup. Come to the dojo we will work on getting this out of your system." Splinter lead his son to the dojo, on their way they saw Mikey who was hard at work annoying his oldest brother "Michelangelo, come with us." Mikey sighed and followed.

Four hours later found Mikey who usually has endless energy, half asleep on the dojo floor with his older brother still wired, Splinter knew this could be a long night...

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**A/N: got this idea while drinking coffee my self, the first time i drank coffee was 9 years ago, i was writing a story and lost track of time just by having one cup of coffee! Before i knew it, it was 6:30am and i sat down at the computer at 5:00pm. I had thought i had only been working for an hour when i realized it had been 13.**


	16. First Splinter gets sick!

**Splinter's First illness**

**A/N: a big thanks to Mistystar123 for the idea for this chapter! I am open to any other suggestions any of you might have.**  
**Love you all and thank you all for the reviews! Its the 35 reviews I have gotten that has kept me going. :-)**

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Splinter woke up with a pounding headache, and sever nausea. He could hear his sons in the living-room and hoped they were being good,he tried to sit up in bed but his head spun when he tried. He could hear footsteps coming to the door, when the knock came it almost pained him to move when he said "enter my son."

8 year old Donatello saw his father and asked with full concern in his voice "are you OK? You didn't come out for breakfast. or morning practice?" Splinter looked at his most intelligent son "I am just not feeling well my son. Would you please make me a cup of tea, have Leonardo help you."

Donnie bowed and said respectfully "Hai Sensei."

Donnie went to the living room and found his older brother "Leo, Splinter wants you to help me make some tea for him."

Frowning Leo asked standing up "is he OK?"

Donnie shook his head and told him "he isn't feeling well at all." Mikey looked up from his comic and said to his oldest brother "should we go see if we can help too?" Raphael started to get up and said "yea lets go."

The two turtles went to their father's room, Raph knocked, when he could here his father say it was OK they entered. Raph noticed right away how his father didn't look well, Mikey started to hurry to their fathers side but he was stopped by his oldest brother "he ain't well Mikey, so don't go getting all hyper on him."

Splinter smiled as his sons came in Mikey asked "why are you sick daddy?"

Splinter looked at his youngest son and told him "I do not know my son, Raphael would you look after your brothers today, i may need to stay in here until i am well." just then the door opened and in walked Donatello and Leonardo with the tea, Leo handed it to his father and asked "do you need anything else?"

Splinter shook his head and said "Not now my sons thank you, all i ask is for the four of you to be good today and stay out of trouble." The four turtles promised to behave as they left the room.

Leonardo went to the dojo to practice, Donatello busied himself with fixing the toaster again while Raph and Mikey were in the living-room watching cartoons. Around noon Mikey told his oldest brother "Raph, I'm getting hungry."

Looking over at his smaller brother he said "i can't cook Mikey." Donnie and Leo came in and Donnie said "cooking can't be that hard i bet if we all work together we could make something." the four boys went into the kitchen and tried to find something to make Leo found bread a some sandwich meat, Raph found some chips. So the two oldest brothers set out to make lunch.

Donnie knew his father needed to eat, so he went to the cupboard and found a can of chicken broth and his fathers' herbal tea, an idea struck him and he took both items down. Getting a pot from under the sink he opened the can of broth and poured it in, after putting it on the stove he turned it on medium high and put a teabag in it as well. Mikey frowned and asked "Donnie why did you just put tea in soup?"

Donnie looked over at his younger brother and told him "well he feeds us soup and tea when we are sick." "Yea but he gives them to us separately, not together."

Looking at his concoction Donatello told his younger brother "you never know Mike, the world of medicine is a mystery."

After the 'soup' was done Donatello poured some into a bowl and walked carefully to Splinter's room.

Knocking on the door he waited for a response, after hearing a come in from his father he had Michelangelo who was following him open the door.

Splinter was feeling slightly better but not much, he looked up surprised to see his two youngest sons enter the room, smiling he said "what brings you in here my sons?"

Donatello walked slowly into the room with the bowl in hand, walking up to his father he said "i made you some soup! It should help you feel better." In the dim light Splinter looked down at the soup in hand and couldn't see the color but his nose told him that it was broth with something else in it.

"What else is in the soup Donatello?" Donnie smiled proudly and said "i put some of that tea in it that you give us when we have upset stomachs." Splinter was silent for a moment before saying "did you use a tea bag?" Still smiling Donatello said "Hai Sensei."

Splinter smiled at his son and told him "what made you combine them?" Donatello stood right next to his father and said "well the tea take almost a full day to work and the soup tastes good and makes ya feel good. So my thought was have something that makes you feel good wile you have something that makes your upset tummy go away."

Splinter didn't want to hurt his most sensitive sons feelings so he took a bite of the now barley warm soup, it tasted horrible and he could tell from the look Donatello was giving him that he had worked hard on it. After another bite Splinter said to him "Michelangelo would you please go warm this back up for me please."

Michelangelo hurried from the room and did what was requested of him, Donatello asked his father "you don't like it do you?" Smiling at his son he said "its not my favorite, but something I tell you and your brothers is the worst something tastes the better it makes you feel afterwards. Thank you my son for thinking about me."

Donatello smiled and said to his father "do you think it will work?" Splinter smiled at him and said "we will see."

After Mikey came back with the soup Splinter ate as much as his stomach would allow. After the two turtles left Splinter laid back down and tried to sleep, he couldn't help but worry about if his sons were being good or not.

Raphael was getting frustrated at his younger brother and said "what should we do then? i don't want to go to the dojo and train." Mikey came in and told them "why don't we play hide and seek?"

Deciding it was a quiet enough game they began to play, after a while when Michelangelo seemed to be the hardest to find, it was Donatello who went searching for him.

Leonardo told Donnie "look in Splinter's room, that is the last place we have looked." Donnie went to his father's room and slowly opened the door, he peaked in and saw his father sleeping soundly. (or so he thought) stepping inside he whispered "Mikey? you in here?"

Splinter perked his ear hearing his son calling his younger brother, opening one eye Splinter saw Donatello bent over the edge of the bed looking for his brother. the soup made him feel better so he playfully raked his nails over Donatello's shell. shutting his eyes and pulling his hand back Donatello shot up not seeing anything out of the ordinary Donatello leaned down more and Splinter lightly swatted his son's shell causing Donatello to fall over.

trying not to laugh Splinter saw his next to youngest son's shocked face and said softly "Mikey? are you up there?" Splinter was having fun and said just as softly "no but i am." Donnie jumped and said "oh crud i didn't mean to wake you up!"

Splinter laughed and said "its alright my son, and yes your brother is in here." Donnie climbed onto the bed and saw Mikey sound asleep next to his father.

Couple hours passed and Splinter came out with a very tired Donatello and Michelangelo who had both taken a nap with him to find a very frightened Raphael and Leonardo who both were saying "where were you two!" Splinter looked at Raphael and said "loosing your brothers is not a good thing Raphael. but i expect you will be more vigilant in the future."

After they ate Splinter saw how messy the lair was but decided to have the boys clean it tomorrow and sat in his chair. Raphael asked his father "are you felling better?" "yes i am, that soup that your brother made me helped a lot. Donatello, would you mind writing down how you made it please. this way i have it for future reference?"

Donnie smiled and nodded saying "Hai Sensie." running out of the room to do his task, Splinter asked Leonardo "did you boys get board today?" "just a little." " i can tell by how messy the home is. you will all clean up tomorrow."

Splinter hoped that he never got this ill again while his sons were still children, he knew that if they had been any younger this would have been really bad.

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**A/N: went over to the library to finish this story, thanks to f3296 for giving me writing advice. i hope that it worked... my laptop is being checked out and hopefully will be back soon.**

**CHALLENGE: what father/son moments would you like to see? i am going to do four so this is going to be for the next round of chapters. let me know who you want paired first and what situations should arise!**

** thanks for the reviews i read every one of them!**


	17. First Broken Bone and a lesson in Karma

First Broken Bone

**A/N:** this is NOT an extension of chapter 7. Some one gave me the idea for a first broken bone, for the life of me I don't remember who it was . I can not find the pm that featured the idea. So if the person who gave me the idea reads this thank you for the idea.

and thank you all for the wonderful reviews. This has been a fun ride and I might continue this story past the 8th of August, besides there are so many ideas out there. We can all find an idea for a great chapter to dedicate for the anniversary of the turtles.

**A/N2: **I have fixed errors that I have found with this chapter and many others.

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11 year old Donatello was helping his father fix the new stove that Splinter had found while scavenging one night. It was an old gas stove and Donatello was able to find a gas line to hook it up too.

Splinter watched with fascination as his most intelligent son hooked the stove up, Splinter supervised but had no experiences when it came to gas stoves. After some time passed Donatello turned to his father and said "its done, do you want me to make sure it works?"

Handing him a match Splinter told his son "if you wish, but be-careful my son, we do not know what will happen once the pilot is lit." That was all Splinter knew, was that it had a pilot and it required lighting it in order to start.

Something caught Splinter's attention, a smell, unlike anything he had smelled in the past, he put a hand up and said quickly "Donatello! Wait!" But it was too late, a bright light filled the room, as well as a deafening explosion sending Splinter flying one direction and Donnie in another. Smoke filled the kitchen as the fire consumed the stove and some of the counter. Splinter's head was spinning thanks to the fumes and knock on the head from the wall, getting up he raced the best he could threw the cloud of smoke to turn the gas off.

Once he turned it off he got the fire extinguisher and began putting out the flames, once the fire was out Splinter opened the lair door and got the fan , turning it on he pointed it towards the door in an attempt at getting rid of the smoke.

He turned to find three scared faces of his sons "what happened?" Leonardo asked first. Splinter coughed and told them "there was an explosion from the 'new' stove, it caught fire, now go to your rooms until the smoke clears i need to find you brother."

Speaking quickly Splinter hoped they would not ask more questions. Once they were safe he raced for the kitchen, he did not see his next to youngest any where.

Splinter could feel fear for his son as he searched "Donatello? Where are you. Please answer me."

There was still a lot of smoke hanging in the air making it impossible to see his child. Bumping his foot on something he could hear a slight moan, he was beside the table. Kneeling down he saw a foot under the chair, walking around the table calling to his son. Splinter feared the worst, moving a fallen chair he knelt down and saw Donnie laying on his back with his right arm pined under his shell in an unnatural position. Carefully lifting his son and holding him like a baby Splinter took him to his own room and found his medical supplies.

After a quick assessment Donatello had fractured his right arm in three places: upper arm, forearm, and wrist. He also sustained a lot of bruises, as well as minor burns and a mild concussion.

A knock on the door got Splinters attention "enter." Leonardo walked in slowly and asked "is Donnie OK?" Smiling sadly at his son he said "he will be, would you get me a bucket with some water and the flour off the shelf please. You brother's arm is broken badly and i have to set it." When Splinter was human , and a child him self he remembered his mother doing this method of making a cast for him when he broke his ankle.

Splinter cleaned his son up while waiting for Leo to return, Raphael came to the door and peered in, Mikey was beside him. "Master Splinter? Will Donnie be OK?" Splinter looked up while cleaning Donatello's broken arm and said "in time, but for now he needs rest and for us to be strong for him."

Michelangelo piped up from behind his brother "how did it happen? Raph smelled the smoke after the explosion and told Leo and I to stay put and not move." Raph and Mikey moved when Leo came back. Seeing what his younger brother had he asked "what is the flour and water for?"

Splinter didn't answer at first as he was concentrating on wrapping the broken arm carefully with cloth, once he was done with that part he looked up at his sons as they surrounded him "when you mix flour with water it makes a paste like substance that hardens as it dries, it is a cast of sorts. Your brother will have no use of this arm for a couple months at best, and I do not wish for him to injure it further by moving it."

While he had been talking he mixed the water and flour till it was a thick, sticky paste, Michelangelo had left the room while his father mixed the substance, coming back he had a spatula in hand. Just as Splinter was about to put his hand in the mixture Mikey said "wait, here this may help."

Smiling at his youngest son he said "Thank you."

taking his time Splinter carefully got the arm bandaged up and restrained from moving. Putting Donatello's arm to his side and having his hand face the left with the elbow bent Splinter put a towel across his sons plastron and put his arm on it.

Hours later and Donatello began to stir, the first thing he felt was pain shooting up and down his arm looking down he saw the makeshift cast, he tried to sit up but his head started to spin. He hurt all over, he tried to remember what happened, then it hit him, an explosion plus fire. The lair was silent and still had the smell of smoke in the air. He noticed he was in his father's room so he knew Splinter was fine, the door creaked open and Raph looked in, seeing his younger brother awake he shouted "hey Splinter, Don's awake."

Splinter came in with three worried turtles in toe and said "how are you feeling?" Looking up he said "like i got hit by a bus." Splinter lightly touched his sons makeshift cast and said "At least its dry." With help Donatello sat up and saw a thick cast on his arm his fingers poked out as it covered his arm from hand minus fingers all the way up his arm stopping barely below his shoulder.

Splinter studied his injured son and asked "what troubles you?"

Donatello first asked "how did you make the cast?" Splinter chuckled and said "at first i had tried using flour and water, it made more of a mess then anything, so i went to the surface and found plaster at a hardware store dumpster. I found thrown out but still good cast wraps at a medical supply store and made a cast with that." Donatello also noticed the purple wrap on it and looked up. "i also found several of these wraps in there as well."

Looking worried Donnie asked "i am right handed... how am i going to be able to function?"

"Think of it as a ninja lesson, you must learn to adapt to new situations my son."

And adapt he tried, days after the incident Splinter managed to get rid of the old stove and brought an electric one down, only the front burners worked but it was better then nothing.

Splinter watched Donatello as he tried to eat with his left hand, it was clear he was strongly right handed for he kept missing his mouth, or spilling his drinks, it was worse when he would try to brush his teeth. His brothers never made fun of him, they knew if they did then they would be in sever trouble with their father.

Splinter had his son sit out during practice since he still suffered from dizzy spells.

Weeks passed and Donnie was beyond frustrated, his brothers had offered to help him but Donnie refused any help from his brothers he didn't want to be a burden.

One day Donatello got his BO and tried to practice his BO staff skills using his left hand, Splinter had found a sling so now he could not have to hold so much weight on that shoulder. With his arm in a sling he twirled, or attempted to twirl his BO in his left hand. It was hard, he saw his older brothers watching him. With out Splinter he knew he could get teased by his brothers. He concentrated hard at what he was trying to do, Splinter, unknown to the turtles, was watching as well. Raph bumped the weapons rack and knocked a katana on the floor, the sudden noise distracted Donnie and he whacked him self in the head with his BO.

Both of the older turtles burst out laughing as Donatello rubbed the back of his head after dropping his BO. Raph told him "Donnie, you might as well as give up! That was pathetic!" Donnie could feel tears well up in his eyes as he shouted at his oldest brother "i cant help it Raph! I can't do anything with this stupid hand!"

"Then stop while your ahead then! You are just going to keep embarrassing your self!"

Leo stepped in and said "Raph that's enough, its not his fault he is too much of a righty." Raph turned on his younger brother "well why can't he use that stupid hand? Its not like he never practiced with it before!"

Donnie wanted to crawl in a hole some where, he felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up into his fathers face "Am I really that pathetic?"

Turning to his eldest two sons he shouted "that is enough!" Both turtles jumped and spun around Leonardo spoke softly "We didn't..."

"i have heard enough out of you two, twenty flips, now!"

Leo wanted to argue but thought better of it.

Donatello slipped out of the dojo and into his room he felt tears in his eyes, he felt bad enough. In the past several weeks he had problems with doing day to day activities, it didn't help that every time he eats or drinks he winds up having to have his father help clean him up after wards.

Looking at his left hand he said allowed to himself "what is wrong with you? You are so weak and stupid!"

He felt tears run down his face, just then the door slowly opened and Splinter entered "are you alright Donatello?" Quickly wiping his face he sat up straighter and replied "yea I'm fine."

Splinter studied his son and sat down beside him, since he was so tall he had to lean forward so as not to bump his head on the top bunk-bed. "Donatello, i know some of what you are going threw, it is frustrating." Looking up at his father he asked "how? I thought you just hurt your foot?"

"Yes i did hurt my foot, but when i was your age i had a bad fall..."

* * *

Yoshi and his adopted brother were climbing trees, their mother warned the boys of such activities, but as boys are, they didn't listen. Yoshi slipped and fell from the branch he was on and landed hard on his left arm, he heard the snap and knew he had broken the bone. His brother looked down at him and had said "a ninja is supposed to land on their feet like a cat! You my brother, are the worlds worst ninja!"

Their father came and helped Yoshi up and took him to the hospital, there he found he broke it in two places. Yoshi looked up at his father and said "But i am weaker on the right side!"

Smiling down at his son he said to him kindly "you must learn to adapt my son, for you are ninja, a ninja is a master of them selves and their environment. And must learn to adapt to all things."

For weeks Yoshi struggled, and his brother made fun of him every step of the way then the day came where Yoshi had had enough teasing and he tried harder at his father's lesson. And soon over came his obstical.

* * *

Donatello looked up at his father and said softly "so your teaching me the lesson you learned back then?"

Nodding Splinter said "yes my son, you must learn to adapt, if at first you don't succeed try again. If what you are trying to do doesn't seem to be working try something else, you will master this my son, i have faith in you. You are too smart to give up."

Donnie thought about what he said and told him "i was doing good with my BO wasn't i? Before Raph distracted me."

Splinter looked down at him then looked away "yes my son, and Raphael reminded me of times when my own brother would tease me because i struggled. Some times those we care about are the ones who hurt us the most."

Donnie looked at his broken arm and said "i wish Raph would hurt his arm so he would know what its like." Splinter gave his son a distant look and then said "why don"t we teach Raphael a lesson, what its like to walk in the other persons shoes."

Donnie stood up and told him "what if we make it a family lesson? That none of them can use their strong side?"

Before Splinter could answer Michelangelo burst into the room a frantic look on his face "Master Splinter! Come quick Raph's hurt!" Splinter jumped up and ran for the dojo, Mikey spoke up "he's in the living room at his punching bag!"

Changing directions he sprinted to the living room where he saw his oldest two turtles, Raphael was pinned under the heavy bag. Kneeling by his son he lifted the bag off his body and noticed how Raph held his right wrist. 'My son what happened?"

Raph looked up at his father and said "the support beam broke, and i couldn't get away fast enough. When i went down the bag fell on my arm... it really hurts."

Splinter felt his arm and found it to be deeply bruised, his wrist on the other hand was badly sprained. "Are you hurt any where else?" Shaking his head Splinter lead him to the kitchen and put an ice pack on the swollen wrist. Turning to his other sons he said "Donatello get me my medical supply box please."

Donnie went quickly to get it, when he came back he saw the other two on the couch "Splinter told us to wait here." Nodding Donnie went to the kitchen and saw his oldest brother sitting on Splinter's lap with tears in his eyes.

Donnie went quickly to get the box, when he returned his other brothers were sitting on the couch "Splinter told us to wait here." Nodding Donnie went to the kitchen, he saw Raph sitting on their fathers lap. Donnie saw tears in his brothers eyes, Donnie put the box down on the table. Raph got off Splinter's lap and went to Donnie "I'm sorry i didn't mean to laugh at you, and tease you." Splinter gave his son a knowing look and it hit him, Splinter told Raph the story of Yoshi.

Donnie looked at his brother and said "you really hurt me when you teased me."

"i know... and i didn't mean to hurt you like that. I know now i acted like a jerk."

Donnie knew now why their father told them that story because Donnie reminded him of him self as a child and Raph reminded him of his teasing brother.

Looking over at their father he said "you told him that story?" Nodding his answer Donnie turned back to Raph "we won't end up like the brothers in the story, next time if i hear you laugh i will just ignore you."

Weeks passed and Raph struggled to do things with his left hand, Donnie struggled not to laugh during weapons practice when his brother kept dropping his sia.

After both brothers healed Leo and Donnie were sitting on the side watching their brothers sparr, it was Donnie's first time back to practice since the accident, Donnie told his older brother "you know what i learned from the whole incident with Raph?"

Splinter listened in as Leo said "what?"

"Karma's a bitch... Raph made fun of me and he gets hurt in the end."

Splinter tried not to laugh he didn't approve of cursing but hearing it come from Donatello was funny, and his son had a strong point, Raphael learned a lesson about karma but how long will it last...


	18. First dedication to 30 years pt 1

**Thirty year dedication part 1**

**A/N:** this first part is Leo and Raph, the second part is Donnie and Mikey.** This part was inspired by the song 'you'll always be my baby by Sara Evens.'** For Raph, this follows to his teen years and Mona Lisa makes an appearance.

**A/N2: **Fixed errors

* * *

_"Raph! Why did you go out again? You know father will be mad when he finds out!"_

_Raphael looked at his younger brother in shock and anger telling him. "You ain't gonna tell on me Leo! Besides Dad said tattling is not what a ninja is supposed to do!" _

_Leonardo glared angrily at his older brother then shot back. "Watch me Raph! Just watch me! And to top it all off! You lied about how long you was gonna be gone!"_

_In saying Leonardo went to their father's room and proceeded to tell him what had transpired. Moments later Leonardo reemerged from their father's room with a proud look on his face and said to Raph. _

_"Splinter want's to see you." _

_Raph glared at his brother and said "You little jurk! How could you! Your my brother!"_

_Shrugging Leo told him. "I don't care Raph, rules are rules, you need to learn to follow them!" _

_"Yame! Boys what is going on here?"_

_Raph looked up at his father and saw the furious look in his eye as he said to the troubled child._

_"Dojo now Raphael." _

Ten year old Raphael sat in the dojo, his nerves were on edge. His younger brother had caught him sneaking out and then the two had a huge fight to which Splinter woke up to and stopped. He had been warned countless times about sneaking out and even more about fighting with his brother. He just knew he would get it good this time.

The door to the dojo opened and his father walked in, Splinter could see how scared his son was, walking over he saw Raph lower his head not daring to meet his eyes.

'"Why don't you just send me away... I'm just nothing but a head ache."

Splinter looked down at his frightened son and said "Raphael, do you really think i would send any of you away just for getting into trouble"

Raph felt tears stinging his eyes and it sounded like some one else was talking "i am nothin but a disappointment."

Kneeling down Splinter lifted his sons face and could see the sadness in his green eyes "Raphael, no matter what you do, no matter where life takes you know that i will always love you, and you will always be my baby."

* * *

**seven years later...**

Raphael had been dating Mona Lisa for a couple years now, Splinter warned them about certain things... but one night they didn't listen as emotions ran too high and a line was crossed.

Now once again Raphael stood before his father feeling that he let his father down by once again not listening and getting him self into a sticky situation. His knees trembled as he told his father what he and Mona Lisa had done... Splinter put a hand on his shoulder and said calmly "Raphael, are you ready for the responsibility that comes with this adult action?"

Swallowing hard Raph wondered why his father didn't get mad and yell, "Raphael, no matter what road know you may be on I'm never too far away, my love for you is always there. And no matter how old you are you will always be my baby."

Months went by and Raphael held his newborn son, looking down at him he said softly "you know little man... i am not known for being patient or level headed... that's you uncle Leo's department. But i pray that i will be as understanding as my father was to me, and ya know what, don't tell the others this but... no matter where life takes you know I'm never far away and you will always be my baby..."

* * *

**Leo's greatest fear...**

Leonardo laid in his bed, his sleep was anything but peaceful as he tossed and turned, in his dream nothing was right. His brothers as well as their father were battling some human in a metal mask on a roof.

He felt relief when he had seen his father, though he didn't understand where it came from. He looked over and saw his brothers Raph and Mikey who were both supporting injuries. But for the life of him he didn't see Donnie, He tried to turn his head but he felt something on his neck, turning back to the man he heard him say "he dies! Weapons." This was before he saw his father, all he could think about was this man hurting his family.

Suddenly he could see the man stiffen and go still, taking the distraction he rolls away, but in his mind he didn't see his younger brother. It happened fast but the man who he found out was the Shredder charged at his father, they both go over the edge of the building.

When his sore body reached the edge he saw the Shredder an Donnie on the ground... not moving. He felt shame as he saw his father go check on him. The three remaining turtles jumped down off the roof to their fallen brother, Splinter then looked at Leo and told him "you failed him, you fail us as a family. No one should die in battle. You killed your brother..." looking ashamed Raph told him "you failed us too fearless, Donnie counted on you the most to protect him, like Mikey counts on me. You are a failure!"

Leo looked up to the sky as the rain started coming down, he tilted his head back and screamed...

Feeling some one shaking him he woke up, startled he scooted back on his mattress and saw his father standing there "Leonardo are you alright?" shaking the dream from his mind he said "I'm fine."

Looking worried but didn't press any further Splinter left the room.

Unable to fall back to sleep Leo went to the dojo to meditate, he saw his father who said " i knew you would come in here."

Sitting down they stayed quiet for the longest time, "Sensei... do i disappoint you?"

Looking at his 14 year old son he said "Leonardo, you have never disappointed me, no matter what the future holds i will always be proud of you and know you tried your best."

Splinter could hear his son earlier and knew his greatest fear: Failure...


	19. First dedication to 30 years pt 2

**First 30 year Celebration pt 2 Donnie and Mikey**

**A/N: **yeah I got my laptop back and it's working better then before! Now with out further hesitation here is part 2 of my 30 year dedication! Hope you all enjoy it!

**A/N2: **Fixed errors

* * *

Splinter looked down at his now toddler sons, he noticed how his second to youngest seemed to squint and to run into things easily. For years Splinter tried to help his little one and hoped he would simply grow out of it. But when little Donatello was just 5 years old he misjudged where his brother Michelangelo was located and accidentally hit him in the head with his practice BO.

Not one to be angry with the small turtle Splinter asked him "what troubles you my son? What do you see when you look at the world?"

Donatello looked up at his father and said to him "everything is fuzzy."

Frowning Splinter asked "is it harder to see far away or close up?"

"Far away." Splinter now knew what he needed to do, so the next time he went scavenging he found a set of broken glasses. They were fairly big for the boy but he knew in his heart that the small turtle would grow into them

It was no surprise that when he presented the glasses to his son that the boy smiled proudly and said "thanks father this will help out a lot."

in the weeks following Splinter noticed Raphael teasing his brother about wearing glasses, seeing the hurt in the sensitive turtle's eye Splinter went to talk to him.

"Donatello, do not let Raphael's words affect you so, remember bullies are insecure them selves and will do anything to get a raise out of you."

The child understood and redoubled his efforts to ignore his eldest brother, this of course made the red banded turtle angry but, Donatello tried not to allow Raphael to upset him any more.

One night Raphael stole Donnie's glasses and hid them from his brother, the next day Donatello ran into everything due to being blind with out his glasses; but Splinter found out something interesting about his son. Though the boy could clearly not maneuver with out the glasses when the lights were on but once the lights were off he could move anywhere and not run into a single thing. But he also noticed how Raphael could not move around so well in the dark.

During a mild flooding of their home Splinter took the turtles out into the sewers mass of tunnels and searched for a dryer place to go.

Splinter noticed how Raphael fell behind once in a while in the depths of the darker tunnels. Then it happened, a wave of flood water came crashing threw a tunnel off to the left, Splinter shouted back "Raphael! Run! Move Quickly!" since Raph was standing at the mouth of the tunnel he was in the most danger.

Donatello moved quickly and moved his brother out of the way as a rush of water went past them. Raphael after that saw his younger brother in a different light and from then on vowed to stand up for him...

Splinter watched the two grow closer as the years wore on and it filled his heart with pride...

* * *

**Michelangelo's weapon...**

For years Splinter could not get his youngest son to focus on anything, his ninja training seemed to be the only point of focus for the young turtle. When the day came for the turtles to receive weapons he choose: Swords for Leonardo, a BO for Donatello and Sia's for Raphael. but what of Michelangelo? He didn't show the maturity for even having a weapon.

Of all the weapons in the dojo Splinter found the Nunchuks to be the most likely weapon for his youngest son, but he lacked focus and needed this with this type of weapon.

Leonardo tried to help, but failed with his younger brother, so instead he had his other two brothers sparr with Mikey in hopes to get the pre-teen to use focus. Raphael handed his youngest brother the nunchuks and attacked him with his Sia. Michelangelo taught him self to use the weapon, for weeks the three turtles would do this in hopes to teach him to focus.

It seemed to work, but when Splinter tried to teach him he always wound up hurting him self, Splinter then realized that Michelangelo had a gift... he knew instinctively how to fight with out thinking. The young turtle would use this to his advantage for years to come and it also taught his brother's how to do the same if they ever needed too.

Some might asked: What is Michelangelo good for? other then cooking or telling a joke? here's the answer, he is good for: Learning lessons in patience, in fighting with out thinking, he lightens up a bad situation. And one thing you can always count on is his endless love for Pizza!

* * *

**A/N:** so here is chapter 19. for the record this my longest story ever written! chapter wise any way... and what inspired the first part of this was the newest Ninja Turtle movie.


	20. First Lesson in Cooking

**First Lesson in Cooking**

**A/N:** thanks to a guest who helped push this idea along... hope you enjoy! I decided since this story seems so popular and so many people like it, I am going to continue till ideas run out!

**A/N2:** I fixed the errors in this chapter, tell me if it is better or not please.

* * *

Splinter sat with his four adopted 10 year old sons at the breakfast table, he watched as they ate and picked at each other playfully. He had been thinking for a couple of weeks now about teaching them other things besides ninja training. He knew he wasn't going to be around forever and they would need other skills as well, he cleared his throat and announced "my sons, we are going to start doing a different type of training. This training I am not going to be able to have all four in one room at a time. I will split you up two and two, I am going to teach you how to cook for your selves."

That got four curios eyes in his direction Donatello asked first "but what are we going to be cooking?"

Smiling Splinter said "well, I will get one or two of you up early to make breakfast, then have one or two for lunch and supper. What we cook depends on what every one decides on during the day. I will make out a menu that will be different each day."

Mikey raised his hand and waved it around excitedly and said "me! I wanna be first! Please!"

Smiling Splinter said "very well my son, you and Donatello will help with lunch today and Raphael and Leonardo can help with supper. Now remember that with cooking there are responsibilities, like cleaning up messes, being patient, following directions, all of this will come in time."

Raphael raised his brow and asked "what happens if we don't do well with cooking?"

Looking thoughtfully at his eldest son he said "surely one of you four possess the skill to cook or maybe even two of you so do not worry Raphael."

After their usual morning ninja practice Splinter had Michelangelo and Donatello in the kitchen with him. Donnie and Mikey looked at each other when they saw a bag of frozen French fries, a roll of hamburger, and bread sitting on the counter.

Splinter turned to his sons "first wash your hands, then join me at the counter."

Mikey scooted a chair to the sink and wash his hands, after he was done he jumped down and Donnie moved the chair back and washed his. Splinter looked down at his sons and said "OK first you need to get the pan out to cook the meat. Michelangelo in the cabinet to your left is the skillet would you put it on the stove please."

Doing as he was told he got out the skillet and put it up on the stove with the aid of the chair Splinter provided him.

Splinter noticed the only obstical at this point for Mikey would be his height, he has always been smaller then his brothers. Deciding it was best for the turtles to learn things hands on he was just going to be the guide and stand back and give directions.

Splinter then turned to Donatello and said "OK, now open the hamburger and take a small chunk of the meat and smash it in your hands to make a patty, Michelangelo please turn the stove on so it can be getting hot while Donatello prepares the meat."

Nodding Mikey turned the stove on, "how hot?" Splinter looked over his son's shoulder and said "see on the knob where it says Med? that stands for medium, you want it on that temperature."

Looking over at Donatello Splinter noticed that some of the patties were really thick while others were super thin, Splinter walked over to him and said "you are following directions my son, but may I make a suggestion?"

Looking up at his father he said "Hai Sensei."

Splinter had already washed his hands before the boys, he took one of the thicker patties and broke it in half, squashing it between his hands he said "you see, you had too much meat there, it would not cook correctly and some of it would still be pink and raw. If you would my son take some of the remainder of the patty and mash it together with the thinner patties."

Michelangelo looked up at his father and asked "can I have bacon on my hamburger?" Splinter looked at him thoughtfully and said "if you wish my son, get the bacon and bring it to the counter as well."

Splinter reached up and got down the Bacon pan from the upper cabinet and said "OK, now, take four slices and place them up and down on the pan please." Mikey took out four slices and put them on and waited for more instructions, "we will now wait until some of the patties are cooked before cooking those, go back to the stove. Donatello the patties look very good my son, now take two of them to Michelangelo please."

Donatello handed them to his brother and Splinter told him "now, place them carefully on the hot skillet." Michelangelo tried with a steady hand to put them on the skillet, in the mean time Splinter turned to Donatello "now bring two more over once he has the second one in place." Mikey put the last one down then got the two from his brother, he carefully repeated the steps he did earlier. Only he got to close to the side this time "ouch!"

Splinter walked over and examined Michelangelo's hand, "Donatello go to my room and bring me a piece of the aloe plant that is near the door." Mikey had a small whelp from the hot pan, Splinter turned to see Donnie come back and put a little of the aloe from the plant on Mikey's hand "this will help with the pain and speed up healing."

Once Michelangelo was off the chair Splinter said "Donatello take over at the stove please." as the hamburger cooked Splinter told him "Donatello, when the meat is dark brown on the inside it will be done and ready to eat." taking a spatula he flipped the hamburgers and let them cook on the other side.

Splinter took a sip from his tea cup and asked "do you boys feel you can do this with out me tomorrow? or do you want me to be present?"

Both turtles looked at each other and Donnie said "present please."

"OK then, I will be here but I want you to do most of the work on your own and use your own judgement." both boys nodded then Splinter realized that he had forgotten about the fries, "Michelangelo get into the bottom right cabinet and get the cookie sheet out that has raised edges and spray it with cooking spray."

Mikey did as told, "now open the bag of fries and place them on the pan and make sure they are even. I already had the oven ready since it takes a long time to pre-heat." Once Mikey had the fries ready he went to the oven and opened the door but was stopped by Donnie "be-careful I don't want you to get burned again, the top of the door is hot." taking the pan from his little brother he put it on the rack in the oven. Turning to his father he asked "how long do we keep them in there?"

Splinter leaned against the counter and shrugged and told him simply "what do the directions say?"

Mikey looked at the bag and said to his older brother "it says 15 to 17 minutes." Donnie set the timer, but Splinter informed him "Donatello, the oven does not heat properly and is cooler then it should be. Since you like math I want you to determine how long the fries need to be in the oven." Donnie thought hard then said "probably wouldn't hurt for them to be in for maybe up to 20 minutes." nodding his approval Donnie set the timer.

While they waited Mikey got out the Ketchup, Mustard, pickles and Mayonnaise and set it all on the table. Donnie reached for the plates and handed them to his shorter brother who continued to set the table.

Splinter just stood back and watched his sons and was proud of them using team work, he watched Donatello check the hamburgers again and then say to his younger brother "the fries have about 5 or 6 minutes left Mike, I would go ahead and put your bacon in the microwave."

Donatello already had the knowledge of how to cook bacon, he had done it before once or twice when he wanted some for breakfast on the weekends when no one was up. Mikey asked his older brother "how long do I put them in for?"

Knowing his brother was horrible in math Donnie said "well, you have four strips of bacon, and its one minute per strip." Mikey thought about it and then said "so four minutes?"

Smiling Donnie said "yes."

Mikey put a paper towel over the bacon and put them in the microwave, after setting the timer he said to his brother "so do you think this is fun?" Donnie looked down at him and said "yea, its cool. I didn't realize there was so much math involved with cooking, this could really be fun if I can get the hang of it."

"and you will in time my son, Michelangelo, would you get your brothers? lunch is nearly ready."

While Mikey went to get his brothers Donnie checked the hamburgers again and found they were done so he put them on a prepared plate and then once the timer went off for the fries he took them out as well. He noticed his little brother wasn't back yet so he got the bacon out since the timer went off at the same time as the fries. Donnie finished setting the table just as his three brothers came in.

Raph smelled the air and said "wow, it smells good in here." he saw the food on the table and sat down, Leo sat beside him but to the left of Splinter. After making sure the oven was off Donnie joined them and sat to the right of Splinter beside Mikey.

Splinter informed his two eldest sons "they worked very hard and did a great job, I only hope you two do as well this evening."

As the family started eating Splinter told his two youngest "I am proud of you two, lunch is very good." Donnie and Mikey gave each other proud smiles as they ate.

* * *

That evening it was Raph and Leo's turn to cook, Splinter had purposely chosen these two to work together since they had difficulty getting along. Splinter choose a harder meal for the two to make: Chicken with vegetables and rice.

Raph and Leo entered the kitchen and Splinter told them "OK my sons, first off wash your hands."

After doing so the boys waited for their next instructions "OK now Leonardo take the skillet and spray it down with cooking spray and turn the knob to med, this stands for medium heat. Raphael while he is doing this take the bags of vegetables and put them in the large pot and put them on the stove and turn it on med as well. Leonardo take the medium size pan and put water in it and place it on the back burner on high." the two turtles busied them selves with the directions Splinter gave them.

Splinter knew they wouldn't be getting along for long but he hoped they would. After giving a few more directions like for Raphael to put water into the pan of veggies so that they wouldn't burn and for Leonardo to prepare the chicken for cooking.

Leo took each of the five slices of thick chicken he washed them off under running water and then placed them on the cutting board and cut the fat off of it. Then he sprinkled some salt and pepper over the meat.

Raph told him "hey I think the skillet's hot now." nodding Leo looked to his father for directions that is was OK to put the meat on the skillet. Seeing that it was he put them on and they started to sizzle, just then Leo noticed the water boiling and Splinter told him "now how many cups of water did you use for the rice?" Leo looked over and said "5 cups."

"then that is how many cups of rice you need. You also need to turn the water temperature down." Leo took an educated guess and turned it down to medium heat, after putting the rice in Splinter told them "now we wait."

After a few minutes Splinter told Leonardo "My son, get the knife out of the drawer and slice down the center of the chicken to make sure they are not pink still." as he could tell they still were, Splinter was paying more attention to Raphael who was pouring too much salt onto the vegetables to notice Leonardo turn up the heat.

Raphael saw his father watching him and said "did I do something?"

"yes my son you put too much salt on the vegetables. You can not undo it now, but add more vegetables to the pot to maybe take care of the taste."

suddenly a bad smell hit Splinter's nose, "Leonardo? how high do you have the chicken?" Leonardo blushed and told him "I uh put it up on high to cook faster." "they are burning remove them at once."

Leo took the spatula and flipped the chicken instead of following directions, this made some grease fly up and hit him in the plastron, hissing in the sting of the heat Leo covered up the chicken with the lid. Splinter put a hand over his face, and said "Leonardo, I said to remove the chicken, you need to stir the rice before it sticks to the pot." Leo grabbed a wooden spoon and stirred the rice that was now sticking to the bottom of the pan.

Splinter shook his head, _this is not going well_ Raph had turned up the heat as well when Splinter wasn't looking. The water in the vegetables started to boil, "Raphael! turn the temperature down, Leonardo turn the temperature down on your side as well."

Splinter couldn't believe the two that tried so hard in their studies and at practice could not manage to cook with out ruining it. Splinter turned to the freezer and saw two boxes of frozen pizza, he knew he would have to use them but he wanted these two to learn a lesson about following directions and patience.

Splinter shook his head when he saw Leonardo cut through one of the pieces of chicken and found it to be half way done but the outside was charred. Splinter just had about enough until he noticed smoke coming from the vegetables pan "Raphael, pay attention to what you are doing."

Raph looked over and saw what was happening and turned the burner off. Leo shut his burners off as well and they both turned to their father who didn't look pleased in the least bit.

Trying to remain calm Splinter told them "the point of this lesson was you needed to learn patience, do either of you think you showed patience by turning the heat up?" they both lowered and shook their heads no. "now, I for one am not going to taste test this because its burned, and I most certainly am not going to have your brothers eat it. But since you two showed lack of patience and did not follow directions you will both eat this. Take what you don't eat out to the sewers for the rats, that is what I generally do with food that is wasted."

Leo got a couple of plates and put a piece of chicken on each and a spoon of vegetables, as well as a spoon full of rice. Taking down a bowl he put the rest of the food in it and took it out of the lair and fed the rats.

Splinter turned to his remaining son who was still in the kitchen "Raphael turn the center knob that is for the oven and turn it to 400 degrees."

Raph did and then looked back at his father "now take out two pizza pans from the small cabinet by the oven and put the two pizza's from the freezer on them." As Raphael did what he was told his younger brother came in, Leo looked between his father and Raph and said "so what are we going to do now?" "Raphael is making pizza for dinner, but your self and Raphael are eating what the two of you created. It is to teach you a lesson, I am not expecting you to clean your plates because I know that it will not taste good."

Raph and Leo looked at each other before Splinter told them "you will eat before the other two and then clean up the kitchen after your brother's have eaten." Both boys groaned but didn't complain.

Raph and Leo sat down at the table and they looked at the food in front of them. Raph's meat was blackened on one side and slightly pink on the inside, and the vegetables were mushy and salty. And the rice was sticky and it all tasted horrible, but the two turtles ate most of it, when the timer went off Leo and Raph picked their plates up and put them in the sink. Splinter watched them eat and as they put their plates in the sink he asked "what did you two learn from this?"

Leo looked at his older brother and said to Splinter "we learned to listen and follow directions."

"and?"

Raph looked at his father and said "we learned we needed to be patient."

Splinter took the pizza's out of the oven and turned back to his two eldest "go to your rooms, I will come get you after dinner." the two ten year old turtles walked to their rooms, Mikey and Donnie passed by them and Donnie asked "how did it go?"

Leo answered "not well."

Raph chimed it with "yea, we have to go to our rooms."

Mikey laughed and said "whacha do burn dinner?"

Leo frowned and said frustrated "yes Mikey we burned it, ya happy."

Mikey laughed harder, a sharp whack of a walking stick on his shell got his attention. Splinter looked down at his youngest son sternly and said "keep it up Michelangelo and you can go to bed with out dinner. now move!"

Early the next morning Splinter went to Raphael and Donatello's room he reached up and shook the eldest of his sons awake "Raphael, come my son wake up." Raph sat up in bed and said sleepily "huh? wha?" "you will be making breakfast this morning, now come my son."

Raph climbed out of bed and followed his father to the kitchen, his stomach ached all night long from the ruined dinner he had the night before. Going into the kitchen he saw a mixing bowl, two cartons of 18 eggs, a gallon of milk, a gallon of orange juice, two packages of bacon and a box of sausage.

Raph looked up at his father and asked "where do you get all of this stuff?"

Splinter told him simply, "I have my ways son, one day you will learn them too. Now I want you to crack open all of these eggs into this large bowl." Raph looked at all 36 eggs and said "all of them?"

"Raphael, we have a large family, and in a large family you have to cook a large amount for this many. Besides I have seen Michelangelo put away three plates of eggs by him self, so this is why I always make this many eggs every morning." Raph nodded and began to break eggs, he made a game out of it to see how fast he could do it, at one point he had half an egg shell in the bowl. Splinter handed him a fork to scoop out the shells he was getting into the bowl, once his task was complete Splinter told him

"now I want you to pour two and a half cups of milk into the bowl." handing him a measuring cup, Raph took it and poured one cup then did another and a half.

Splinter watched his son and realized that this child would need to be taught alone, he did better if there were no distractions. He watched as Raphael washed off the fork he had used to pick out egg shells and used it to scramble the eggs in the bowl. With out being told he got the skillet and frying pans out and placed them on the stove. Turning the burners on medium heat he let them get hot, turning back to Splinter who nodded to him he continued to move forward.

He picked up the bacon and opened the first package looking at the slick slices he picked the first one up and put it on the frying pan, then added four more to the pan before picking up the sausage and put five round circles in the hot skillet. While the meat was cooking he got two large plates and put napkins on them, Splinter cleared his throat and Raph looked up at him "my son, your are doing well but you need to pay attention to the bacon. It cooks faster then the sausage does."

Raph looked into the pan and asked "how do I know if it's done?"

"it will turn dark red instead of a lighter red or dark pink." nodding Raph looked into the pan, he saw it was turning brown, he got the spatula and flipped them over but only to find that they were brown on the other side as well. He scooped them out and put them on the plate. He gave a frustrated sigh at his first try at bacon, "my son, why don't you turn the burner down a little?" he did as suggested, and this time the results were better. He flipped the sausage over and after a few minutes put them on a plate too, Splinter told him "I will be right back my son, continue with what you are doing."

Raph was scooping out more bacon when he heard some one come in, he turned to see Leo come in "how's it going this morning Raph?"

Raphael shrugged and turned back to the stove to flip more sausages. "if it isn't mister 'I like to burn food' himself, so Raph what are you burning this morning?"

Raph turned and gave his youngest brother an 'if looks could kill' look before turning back to the stove. Splinter walked in and said "Michelangelo if I hear one more word out of you..." ducking his head Michelangelo went to the living room.

Donatello came into the kitchen and saw Raph, "how's it going? Would you like some help?" Raph turned from the stove and said "sure, is that OK Sensei?"

Splinter nodded his approval and Donnie went to help out, Donnie got out plates and started to set up the table. He got the milk back out of the refrigerator and set out some glasses of milk and juice. Splinter watched the display, though he really wanted Raphael to learn on his own, it seemed he was OK with Donatello helping.

Once breakfast was finished every one sat down, Raphael had purposely not thrown away the burnt bacon from before and put it on his overly enthusiastic brother's plate. Michelangelo didn't see this and ate the over done meat, "eww... dang Raph what did you do to the bacon?"

Raph grinned at him and said "pay back bro, that was pay back."

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**A/N:** Well here you have chapter 20. This is officially the longest story I have ever written! I have gotten more reviews with this story then any other I have written so far. And I thank every one of you for favoring, following, and reviewing this story.


	21. First Best Friend

**First Best Friend**

**A/N: a suggestion I missed quite a ways back in this story, thank you JadeKurosaki for the idea. I missed the review with this suggestion in it. So I hope you all enjoy this. And it may seem like I am taking Raph out of character but if you watch Slash and Distroy you will see that Raph would be very much in character in this. so enjoy!**

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Splinter could tell something was troubling his seven year old son Raphael, the boy seemed restless and moody today more then usual. Splinter tried to consul his temperamental son but it seemed nothing would work, Splinter got an idea _why don't I take him out of the sewers for a while?_ figuring his son would need some one on one time and some time away from his brothers.

Splinter went to his eldest and said "Raphael, would you like to go to the surface with me?" Raph looked up to his father from where he had been puching at the punching bag and said "sure, I guess. Do I need to bring my bag?" all of the turtles had a bag that they would take with them in case they found 'treasures' up top.

"if you wish to you may." Splinter went to go talk to his remaining three sons who were watching T.V. Donatello looked up from the floor where he was reading a book and noticed his father was about to speak. "my sons, I am going to take Raphael to the surface for a little while. While I am gone Leonardo is in charge, listen to him and do not leave the lair."

Mikey looked up at him and asked "why?" Splinter smiled at his youngest and said "because he is so restless, and I really don't want fights to continue breaking out in our home. So I think its best if I take him out for a little while."

Accepting the answer Splinter went to the entrance where Raph was waiting and asked "are you ready?" nodding Splinter opened the door and the two went out.

They walked in silence for some time before Splinter asked "so what troubles you my son?" looking up Raph shrugged and said "nothing does..." "then why are you so angry all the time?" Stopping for a moment Raph looked ahead into the dim tunnel and thought about that, "I really don't know..." "have I done something to anger you? Have your brothers?"

Raph couldn't come up with one solid answer for his father, he looked ahead then up at his father, "I guess some times I wish I could just get away from them... some times they ignore me... I feel left out." "how so?" Raph frowned and looked down at his feet "well... Mike's always playing games, and fooling around, Leo... he is always meditating and training... Donnie is always tinkering with things."

Splinter thought about this "so, you are feeling lonely? What are your interests my son? I can never tell?" Raph looked away before saying "I like to read magazines, like the one you found me a couple years ago. That Modern Ninja Magazine that you got me, I liked it... but I am board with it cause there is only one and I have read it so many times already."

Raph felt a little guilty about complaining... Splinter tries his best to provide for them, Splinter could see the play of emotions on his face "Do not worry my son, it does not anger me that you told me this. It helps if nothing else, I want you four to come to me when something is bothering you or if there is something you need or would like."

Raph told him "but if we want something how can you get it? I mean its not like you can just walk into a store?" smiling at his son he told him "Raphael, I have my ways, I have been doing this for some time now. When I first got you and your brothers I made sure that you all had the tools to survive, even though at the time I was human and you all were normal baby pet turtles. Even as normal turtles I considered you all my sons, my love grew even more when we were mutated."

They continued walking for a while, Splinter looked up through a sewer grate at the night sky, he guessed it was getting late and said to him "would you like to go to the park?" Raph smiled and said "sure, that sounds like fun."

They walked further until Splinter stopped him, he looked around and saw a ladder nearby, Splinter grabbed the lower rung and started to climb, Raph was close behind. Once at the surface Splinter motioned for him to remain silent, they moved quickly and silently to the park area.

Raphael saw swings, a seesaw, monkey bars and other fun objects for him to play on. He went to the swing and began to play, after a while he switched to playing on the slide. There was a digging toy there sitting on a pile of sand and he went and started to play there.

Raph was focused on making a big pile of sand when he could hear a small sound coming from the bush near him, it was faint but he could hear this groaning sound. It didn't sound human, so he got off and started to it. Splinter noticed and asked "is every thing alright Raphael?" turning a little to look up at his father he said "yea, I heard something... it didn't sound like a human. It sort of sounded like some kind of small animal?"

Raph used a stick near by and pushed the leaves away, he noticed some eyes looking at him in the moonlight. He jumped back, then decided to proceed with caution, he stepped forward. Splinter had a small flashlight in his robe and pulled it out, it was dim but light enough to see what Raphael had found. There sitting in the under brush was a trapped turtle, it had become tangled in the twigs and vines that were growing from the over grown bush. Splinter put a hand on Raphael's shoulder and had him step aside. The smaller turtle put its head in its shell out of fear, "I will not hurt you little one." Splinter told the small turtle.

Splinter carefully took the vines off its leg and got it free, he placed it in the sand and said to Raphael "this little turtle must have gotten lost, the pond is quite aways from here." Raph knelt down and said to the small turtle "hey there little guy, my names Raphael, this is my father Master Splinter." the dark green turtle pulled his head out slowly at the sound of Raph's voice, it walked closer to Raph and put its head on his hand. Raph looked up at his father and said "he likes me! Can we keep him? Please?"

The tall rat looked down at his lonely son and said "yes, you may keep him, but, Raphael he is your responsibility, you must care for him." Raph stood up and said with a serious face "Hai Sensei." Splinter smiled and told him "put him in your bag, we must start our journey home." Raph grabbed his dark brown satchel bag that had some smaller pockets on it and placed the turtle inside of it. They walked home carefully as not to hurt the new member of the family, once home they were greeted by three energetic turtles.

Donnie noticed the bulge in one of Raph's bag pockets and asked "what's that Raph? Did you find something?" Raph went to the living room and turned on a brighter light and said to his brothers "yea, I found a friend." in saying he presented his brothers with a small turtle it was dark green, and the size of a small Nerf ball. Mikey told them excitedly "aww its a turtle! Where did you find him Raphie?" Raph smiled proudly and said "I found him in a bush, his leg was caught in a vine, Splinter freed him and then said I could keep it."

Leo looked at the turtle, it was obviously scared as it was barely keeping its head outside its shell "poor little guys scared to death, what are you naming him?" Raph looked down at his new found friend and said "I hadn't thought of one yet."

Splinter walked up behind them and said "Raphael I need to check his leg to make sure it wasn't cut while he struggled to get free." Raph and Donnie stepped away from the table the turtle was on as Splinter knelt down and examined the leg. He put a small piece of gauze around the leg with tape after putting some ointment on it. "he had a small cut but that is all he should be fine with time."

Mikey put a hand half way up and said excitedly "oh I know! We can call him Spike!"

Leo frowned and said "Spike the turtle? Sounds kind of corny if you ask me." Mikey frowned and said "who ever heard of a turtle named Leonardo?"

Rolling his eyes Leo had gotten the point, Raph asked his youngest brother "so how did you come up with that?" "his shell has points around it like spikes!"

Raph got down to the small turtles level and said "what do you think? Does Spike sound like a good name?" the small turtle in question poked his head out the rest of the way from his shell Raph nodded and said "Spike it is, thanks Mikey."

From that day on Spike became a permanent part of the turtle family, for the next 8 years Spike and Raphael were inseparable until an accident turned Raphael's best friend into a monster...

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**A/N: I noticed there are no stories about how Raph came across Spike to begin with... So this is Spike's back story.**


	22. First walk in the sewer

**First Walk in the Sewers, and first good human encounter**

**A/N: **Thank you mistystar123 for the idea for this chapter!

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Six year old Raphael sighed heavily, he had done everything in his power to keep his attention in check all morning, he had been board for days now. Splinter had told them it was too cold for them to go up top with him to look for supplies. Raphael was tired of winter and it was only the beginning of December!

Raphael was sitting down watching an old movie he and his brothers have watched loads of times, when his youngest brother ran up to him "hey Raphie! whacha doin?"

Raph looked at him annoyed and said to him "ice skating. What does it look like lain brain!"

"Raphael, that is no way to speak to your brother."

Raph looked over the edge of the worn out couch to see his father standing there with a look of disapproval on his face. Mikey told him "yea Raphie don't talk to me like that!" Raph glared at him, but choose to keep silent.

"Master Splinter can I go for a walk?"

Splinter studied his son and thought about it hard, with a sigh he told him "you may, but you have to take one of your brother's with you."

Raph sighed and told him "OK, fine."

He went to Leo and asked "do you wanna go for a walk? Splinter said I have to take one of you with me."

Leo looked up at him and said softly "sorry Raph, maybe next time."

Feeling frustrated he went to Mikey "yo Mike, you wanna get out and stretch your legs don't cha? how about a walk around the sewers?"

Mikey looked up from his action figures and said "Sorry Raphie, I am in the middle of a huge war! and I am so not winning!"

Raph turned around and muttered "stupid dolls..." going to his last hope, he saw his younger brother reading in his room, laying on his plastron on his bed with his feet in the air.

Knocking on the door frame Donnie looked up "hey Raph, what's up?"

Raph entered and asked "Splinter said I could go for a walk, but I have to take one of you with me."

Donnie looked up at him and said "and I am your only choice?"

Raph shrugged and said "Mike and Leo are busy..."

Donnie thought about it and said softly "OK, I guess so. I guess a change of pace will do me some good too."

The two brothers went to their father and Raphael said "Donnie agreed to go with me, can we go now?" Splinter looked down at his sons and took a deep breath before saying "yes you may go. But please wear coats, it is nearly winter and it gets cold in the sewers. Raphael I expect you to keep an eye on your brother, he gets cold to easily and gets sick quickly."

Raph bowed and said "Hai Sensie."

Raphael and Donatello went to the closet near the main entrance and got their coats.

Raphael led the way out of the lair, it was cool and damp, on top of the usual smells of the sewer Raphael could smell rain too. They walked for a ways in silence before Donnie asked "so what do you really have planed for coming out here?"

Raph stopped walking and looked at his brother, "what are you talking about?"

"did you really wanna come out here for a walk or did you have something in mind?" Raphael smiled at his younger intelligent brother and said "Donatello, I am shocked to think that you would think I would be up to something..."

"you always are up to something Raphael."

"don't worry what I am up to you wont get in trouble over. Besides we will be fine."

Walking in silence a little longer, they came across a junction, there were three tunnels to go by. Two were on one wall and one was on the other, Raph looked at his brother then chose the second one on the right hand side.

Donatello could feel the air lighting up here, the sewer smell wasn't as strong, as it had been on the main path, although the tunnel was remarkably darker than the main route. "Raph do you know where your going?" "not really but we will be fine."

Donnie thought about turning around and heading back, but they had made another two turns and he wasn't sure where to go from here.

As they walked the air got colder, Raphael stopped and looked around, he knew they were lost. Looking back at his little brother he said "we will be fine Donnie."

Raph made another turn and the tunnel was much darker than before, out of know where Raph heard a light splash, "Donnie?" silence "Donnie! answer me!" Raphael walked back and tried to find his younger brother. There was no ledge so Donnie had not fallen down into the nasty sewer water, but where did he go?

Suddenly Raph could hear coughing off to his left, "Donnie? Are you ok?" Donnie sat up, he had fallen over a piece of debris and there was a shallow pool of water near by that he had fallen into. Raph did not know it was there. "y-y-yea I-I-I'm f-fine just a-a little c-c-cold."

Raphael reached out and felt his brother's coat, it was soaked, "we need to find our way home, your all wet, and its getting colder." Raph helped his little brother up and they began walking back in the direction they had come from.

Stopping at one intersection Raph looked around and Donnie asked "what's the matter?" Raph felt fear creeping up inside of him as he came to realize they were lost, this was the first time Splinter had allowed them to venture into the sewers with out him and here he has gotten the two of them lost.

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Splinter looked up at the clock, he realized his sons had been gone for over two and a half hours, knowing how easily it was for Donatello to get sick in the cool damp air had Splinter worried. He hadn't anticipated that Raphael would keep his younger brother out so long, he knew he shouldn't have allowed them to venture out just yet. He should have known they were just too young.

Standing he beckoned for his remaining two sons once they came into the dojo he said "boys I need you two to go to your rooms and stay there while I go out to find your brothers." Leo looked up at his father and said softly "dad, wouldn't it be easier if we all went? We would be an extra pair of eyes and ears."

Splinter thought hard about that, Leonardo had a point, he also knew how distracted his youngest got over every simple thing. He debated on weather or not to take Michelangelo along or not, but then again he knew his youngest was afraid of being alone and scared of the dark. "very well Leonardo, but I will need your help to look after Michelangelo so he does not wander off."

Michelangelo puffed his chest out and said confidently "I wont wander off daddy, I promise... I will do all the dishes and chores for the rest of my life if I wander off."

Splinter smiled at his son and said softly "we don't need to be dramatic my son but thank you."

Getting his sons coats he lead them out of the lair and into the sewers, he knew how easily it was to get lost.

Mikey was looking down at the ground for foot prints while Leonardo and Splinter were calling out the two missing turtles names. Suddenly Mikey yelled out "wait! Father! Leo! I found something!"

Walking back Splinter knelt to see what his son had found "its a piece of cloths, like what we have on our hands and feet."

Splinter held up the now dirty cloth and said "it looks similar my son." what he did notice was the fresh blood on it. He felt even more worried now, but he couldn't figure out what way the two had gone.

The three found a junction and Leo said "look, a foot print in the mud!" Splinter looked and sure enough a two toed foot print was in the mud, all though Splinter was pretty sure it was not mud.

Michelangelo followed his brother and father down the new tunnel and they kept walking, then it came to Splinter's attention they were going in a circle.

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Raphael could see his brother was not feeling so well, "Don are you ok?"

"I feel hot... and tired... and my foot hurts."

The light was too dim for Raphael to see properly or he would check his brother's foot. Suddenly he could hear talking up ahead, he gently pushed Donnie up against the wall, Donatello looked at him confused "Raph what's wrong?"

"shh... some one's up there..."

Donnie listened hard, but the pounding in his head made it difficult to hear, he felt so hot, and tired. It was hard to walk after that fall he had taken, he asked Raph quietly "can you tell who it might be? Is it dad?"

Raph listened, but he couldn't identify the voice, he whispered back "no, its not Splinter or the others from what I can tell. Let me go check it out you stay here and I will be back."

Donnie nodded with out protest.

Raphael quietly walked along the water's edge and slipped silently to the end of the tunnel, he noticed some men working on a pipe that had come down. He could hear them talking "yea Frank, I think we almost have this pipe fixed."

"I am sick of being down in this sewer, wait did you hear something?"

Raphael froze, he turned around at the sound of his brother coughing, turning back to the men he thought _oh know! They heard Donnie!_

Silently Raphael raced back to his brother's side only to find he had gotten worse in the last few moments.

"Donnie, are you OK?"

Donnie shook his head and pointed to his throat, Raphael couldn't understand what was happening. Just then the two men came upon the two turtles, "what the? What are you?"

Raphael held his brother close to him and looked up in freight and anger at the men "go away! leave us alone!"

Frank saw how scared the boys were, but also noticed how small they were, "Hank... these little boys are turtles."

Hank backed up as Frank slowly approached the small boys cautiously, he could tell they were just children. "where do you come from?"

Raphael could feel his brother shake in his arms, he looked up at the man and said "we live down here."

"how long have you lived down here?"

Raphael knew his father would punish him for talking to a human but he didn't know what these men would do if he just up and ran and his little brother needed him.

Frank could see the sickness inside the small turtle with the purple bandana and said "is he your brother?"

Raph nodded and Frank continued "can I see him?"

Raph held his brother tighter and shook his head no. Frank felt pity for the small boy, Hank spoke up "why are you even bothering with this kid? He clearly doesn't want your help, come on lets go."

Frank turned around and said firmly "I have two sons of my own Hank, I am not going to turn my back on a child, no matter what they look like."

Raphael couldn't believe what he was hearing, this man was worried about his brother, Frank turned on his head lamp and saw how sick the smaller turtle was. He also took note of the cut on the boys leg. He turned back to Hank and said "would you get the first aid kit out of the truck. and don't say a word about what we found down here. You do and I will beat you to a pulp!"

Hank and Frank were brothers, Hank being the younger and he said "yea OK, I promise man." he headed back up the ladder near by, Frank turned to the boys "what are your names?"

Raph timidly said "Raphael and this is my little brother Donnie... we are lost."

"may I look at your brother's foot? He needs help."

When Raphael hesitated Frank said softly "look son, if I was going to hurt you I would have already. I promise I wont hurt you, I will keep it a secret if you want that I ever met you."

Raphael let loose of his brother and Frank picked him up and sat him on his knee, looking at the now swollen foot he said "well Donatello this foot looks pretty bad, what happened?"

Donnie looked up at him and said softly "I fell a while back, I didn't know I cut my foot." just then Hank came back "hey bro, we need to hurry the boss asked what was keeping us."

Frank looked up and said "what did you tell him?"

"that we ran into a few problems, I swear to you that is all I said."

Frank went about cleaning the cut and getting the foot bandaged, Raphael watched closely, Frank explained to the boy every thing he was doing. He set Donatello down and said "what direction is your home?"

Raphael shrugged and said "I am not sure."

"are there any land marks? tunnel numbers?"

Donatello looked up at the men and said "I saw the number 8 when we first left our home."

Frank knew he was going to have a lot of explaining to do to his boss but at the moment he didn't care. "wow, you two are far from home. Come let me get you in the right direction."

Turning to his brother Frank said "the job now only requires one person, I will catch up to you later. If the boss asks what is keeping me just tell him that... a dog was down here and I went after it to get it out of the sewers." Hank nodded and said "yea he would believe that, he knows how big your heart is. Be careful man, I doubt these kids are alone, and I wouldn't wanna come across their father if they have one."

Frank stood up and turned to his brother "clearly these two need help, go ahead and finish up what we started and I will take these two and get them on the right path home. They probably do have a parent or two so I will be careful."

Frank felt a tug on his pant leg, looking down Raphael looked up with worried eyes "mister, our dad is a big rat, just thought you should know."

Hank looked down at Raphael in shock, "what are you? Mutants?"

Donatello looked up and said softly "that's what our dad says we are. But he also said that humans would call us and think of us as freaks."

Frank and Hank looked at each other and then at the two brother turtles, Hank told the two honestly "you two are strange looking but I wouldn't go as far as to say you are 'freaks' you are just different." that put a smile on the two turtle's faces.

Frank cleared his throat and said "we need to get going. Donnie boy here doesn't sound to good at all, he needs to get back to his father."

Hank agreed and the four parted ways.

Frank couldn't help but hear the wheezing coming from Donatello, he looked down and asked "Raphael has he always had breathing problems?"

Raph looked from his brother to the man and said "no, just when he is starting to get sick."

"does he get sick often?"

"only during the winter. He is fine come spring. Father says that the green stuff messed with something in his body that keeps him from staying warm."

Frank frowned and said "but your turtles? Aren't you supposed to be cold blooded?"

Donnie spoke up still wheezing "yes, technical but thanks to the mutagen or 'green stuff' as my brother put it, it made it so we are now warmer blooded, but my blood doesn't stay warm during the winter and I can't hold my body heat like my brothers can."

Frank couldn't believe the vocabulary on the small boy, "how old are you two?"

Donnie answered after coughing a couple times "we are all four 6 years old."

Frank was silent for a while but took notice when Donatello began to fall behind, he turned and asked "do you want me to carry you?"

Donnie looked between his brother and the man, Raph nodded that it was OK and Donnie said "that would be fine."

Frank bent down and picked the small turtle up and said "wow, your hot, I think you may be running a fever." he read the numbers on the tunnels and noticed they were nearing tunnel 8. But a noise up ahead made him stop short, "you said your dad's a rat right?" they both nodded, "I think I found him." he was staring wide eyed at the rat up ahead that stood as tall as him they faced each other, Splinter said sharply "put my son down! Don't you dare hurt him!"

Frank swallowed hard and put Donatello gently on the floor, Raph took his brothers hand and they stood in front of Frank "father, this man helped us get un turned around. We got lost."

Frank got over his shock and stood straight and showed much respect for the giant rat "sir, I found your sons half a mile from here, I was only taking them as far as tunnel 8. That was the only land mark the boys could remember, I am a father too... I couldn't just turn away from them. And this little guy is starting to get sick, I heard him coughing, they were hiding in the shadows really well. If he had not been coughing I wouldn't have known they were there."

Splinter stared at the man with untrusting eyes and said sharply "boys get over here."

Splinter was at a loss for words as the man kept his distance, Raphael looked up at his father and said "he helped us, Donnie got hurt and he helped bandage his foot. He said that we may look different but we aren't freaks."

Looking down at his eldest son he said softly "but you know your not to speak to humans my son, they don't understand."

Frank chuckled softly and slowly approached the family "Sir, if I may, I have a son who was born with sever disabilities. People call him names all the time, I just tell them he is special. Which he is."

Donnie looked up at the man again and asked hoarsely "you mean your son looks different?"

Frank smiled down at him and said "yes, he looks very different, you see my sons are twins, and due to blood not flowing correctly when he was smaller it caused him to look very different. My wife and I have taken him to several doctors, and some actually laugh at how he looks. Some wont even treat him, don't worry though I wont tell any one about your family."

Splinter watched the man as he talked, he could feel something coming from the man, kindness, something he had not experienced in a long time.

There was a long pause and Frank knelt and got to Raphael's level, the small boy had not traveled too far back to his father yet "Listen to me Raphael, I know you trusted me not to over react when I saw you and I have shown you nothing but kindness, just always remember. Not all humans can be trusted OK? I am a good one, I wont hurt you, but others will. You were lucky it was me that found you and not some one else."

Splinter stared in shock, he could tell now that this man was good he cleared his throat and said "that is right Raphael, you put your brother and your self in danger, but, thankfully you ran into a nice man."

Frank stood up and said "my name is Frank."

Splinter smiled at him and said to him "I renamed my self as Splinter, I was once human."

Raph looked up at Frank and said "thank you for helping us, I will remember what you said."

Donatello coughed violently and it shook his little body, Splinter picked him up and said "oh my, your burning up."

Frank told him "yea I noticed that too, do you need anything? Medicine? I can get that for you."

Splinter frowned and said "why would you help us so much?"

Frank walked closer and said "because I am one of few humans that do care when I see some one suffering. Besides it is how I would want some one to treat me, with compassion."

Splinter looked at him cautiously and said "what type of medicine could you offer?"

"I can get you some children's medicine like Tylenol or Motrin. Maybe even some medicine to help with that cough. I understand your secrecy so I will just put the supplies in a box at tunnel 8, the boys didn't tell me where you live, they just told me a land mark. I have no intentions of looking for your home."

Splinter knew where that tunnel was, it was close to their lair, but not too close it was just a junction over from where they lived. "that's fine, thank you."

Splinter turned to leave with his sons and Frank told him "your doing a great job Splinter, your boys are very polite and kind. I will keep my promise and not tell anyone. If my wife asks who the medicine is for, I will just tell her for a friend." Splinter nodded his approval and said "thank you."

Splinter had know idea what was about to happen with this son, for in the middle of the night little Donatello would fall very ill...

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**A/N: instead of making this a long freakin chapter I decided to split it up again. Chapter 23 will be First sever illness.**


	23. First Severe Illness

**A/N: this is part two of the two chapters, it is related to chapter 22.**

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Splinter woke up with a start when he could hear coughing coming from his sons room, getting up he walked out of his room and stood in Leonardo and Donatello's doorway he could hear the coughing again and stepped inside. It had been two days since that faithful day the boys went walking, Frank had kept his word and left a note for Splinter in the spot he said he would deliver the box telling him that it would be a few days but he would get him what he needed for Donatello.

Splinter had kept his eye out just in case, he still wasn't sure if he could trust this human, going into the room he said to Donatello "are you ok my son?" Donnie sat up and said "no daddy... my chest hurts and so does my throat."

Splinter felt his son's head and it felt hot to the touch, he didn't have a lot of materials for if the children got sick. he hadn't thought of it before. true Donatello had been sick before but not to this extent.

Splinter heard a knock on the door to the lair, he froze... no one knew its location... he went to the door and found no one there but a note on the floor. Picking it up he read what it wrote:

_Splinter,_

_I am sorry for coming to your door, I accidentally found your home. Do not worry I wont tell anyone, but the box is sitting at tunnel 8. I had a midnight call to go to the sewers and I brought the box with me. It has everything you will need and then some other items that will bring smiles to the children's faces._

_your friend,_

_Frank_

Splinter frowned and crumpled the note up, he walked the short distance and saw the box, picking it up he found it to be slightly heavy and it was quite large in size. He managed though to carry it back to the lair, once inside he set it at the table and looked inside.

Splinter found yet another note inside:

_Mr. Splinter,_

_This is Frank's wife, he told me that a friend of his has a sick child at home, he said that his friend was secretive so I didn't ask any more questions, I trust my husband. He just told me your name and that was pretty much it. I hope this care package will help your family out, also I baked some cookies for your sons. Hope that is ok. I also put some dishes and silverware inside too, and some fruit. As well as some medicine for the sick little one, I really hope it helps. _

Splinter smiled at the nice gesture, he looked with in the box and sure enough there was all kinds of things in there, he even noticed sitting on top was a white rabbit with yet another note attached:

_Mr. Splinter,_

_this is Max, I thought that your little boy would like to have my rabbit. When I would get sick I would hold him and feel better days later, mommy and daddy were talking about how daddy try to help a little boy about my age. I said to mommy 'I want to help.' so she said I could. Mommy cried when I put bunny in the box she told me I a big boy and I only 4 year old. Mommy is writing this for me, and saying just what I say. I hope I can meet you some day, daddy says you a nice man. Tell your son get well soon._

Splinter picked up the rabbit and noticed the tag on the front that read 'I'm clean' smiling he walked to his son's room, he noticed Donatello tossing and turning in bed. Splinter could also hear his struggle to breath, taking the rabbit he placed it under Donatello's arm and the boy held it close to him never waking up.

Some time later the same night Splinter was awaken by one of his sons shaking his shoulder "father! Master Splinter please wake up!" Splinter opened his eyes to see Michelangelo standing there "father please, its Donnie, he is shaking real bad and is real hot. Raph and Leo told me to get you."

Splinter bolted out of bed and followed his son to Leonardo and Donatello's room, there he saw Donatello covered in sweat and shaking with fever. Feeling his forehead he turned to his remaining sons "Leonardo, Raphael take his mattress to my room, Michelangelo get me fresh sheets and pillow case." Splinter picked up his son and raced to the bathroom, Donatello stirred slightly in Splinter's arms and asked "daddy? what's going on?"

Splinter started a cool bath and said to his son "your running a high fever, its going to be ok."

Leonardo entered the bathroom "dad, where did the bunny come from?"

Splinter twisted around and looked at him and said "you remember your brothers telling you about the man they met in the sewers some days back?" "yea."

"well he knows that your brother is sick and his son, who is younger then you, gave your brother his rabbit to help him feel better."

Leo watched as Splinter put his younger brother in the bathtub and said "I thought humans where bad?"

"not all are bad, but its hard to determine who is bad and who is good anymore."

Raphael entered the bathroom next with a small box "Master Splinter, this was in that big box that Mr. Frank sent." Splinter took the small box and saw it was a bath soak for high fevers and would help with congestion. Opening the box he sprinkled some of the medicine into the bath and let it do its thing. Picking up Donatello he placed him in the tub. Donatello shivered and said "its cold..."

"thank you Raphael, and Donatello it has to be cool to bring your fever down."

Leonardo went back to his room while Raphael stayed in the bathroom, Splinter noticed his eldest son leaning up against the wall looking distressed "what troubles you my son?"

Raph looked over at his father with unshed tears in his green eyes, "this is my fault..." Motioning for his son to come to him he said "how is it your fault?"

Raph sniffled as Splinter put the toilet seat down and sat on it with Raphael in his lap, Raph looked over at his chilled brother and said "if I had not gotten us lost then he wouldn't have gotten sick... He fell and I didn't think of checking on him... I just told him to stay with me... I am a bad brother."

Putting a supportive hand on his son's shell he said "Raphael, it happens, but you know something?" seeing his son shake his head he continued "if you had not gotten lost then you would never had made your first human friend, who is trying to help us out."

Looking down at the floor Raphael said softly "its still my fault though... I'm the oldest, its my job to protect my brothers. and I couldn't even do that."

Splinter put a hand under his sons chin and said "my son, you defended your brother when you thought that Mr. Frank was a bad man, this is what you told me. You are not at fault my son, Donatello always gets sick this time of the year. If any one is at fault it is me for allowing him to go out into the cool sewers knowing that he may get sick."

They were silent for several moments, all that could be heard what Donatello's labored breathing, "my son, we could blame our selves all day and it would not help the situation at all, your brother needs us now to be strong for him." Raph nodded his head in understanding and looked over at his brother, "he will get better right?"

Splinter looked over at his sickly son and said "I hope so..."

As the days went on Donatello got worse, early one morning Raphael snuck out of the lair and went back to the junction that he had found Frank. Raph found him working alone and said loudly "Mr. Frank!"

Frank about jumped out of his skin when he heard his name, he turned and saw one of the young turtles "Raphael or Donatello?" "Raphael, my brother is worse, he is not waking up today. and he is having a harder time breathing."

Frank frowned and said "let me finish this and then I will follow you back ok?" Raph nodded and waited patiently.

Meanwhile Splinter was putting Donatello in the bath again, the boy had not gotten any better, now he had began coughing up yellow flem. Splinter was deeply worried his son had never been this sick. Leonardo entered the bathroom and said "father, Raph's gone."

Just as he was about to answer Raphael came barging into the bathroom and said "father, I found help." Splinter stood just as Frank entered, "he came looking for me I swear, he said that his brother was worse?"

Splinter gave Raphael a stern look before turning back to Frank "yes, he is worse, he barely wakes up anymore, I fear for his life at this point."

Frank looked over the edge of the tub and saw how small Donatello seemed to have gotten "has he eaten anything?"

"no, he refuses to eat."

Frank pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number _"Hello honey its me, look the boy I told you about, he is worse. His breathing is horrible." _after a moment he said_ "yes he is using the medicine you sent, but its not working." _Frank leaned over the edge of the tub and felt the child's head _"yes he is running a very high fever." _another pause _"I think that would be best, meet me at the gas station on the corner of first and main."_

Hanging up he turned to Splinter "ok, my wife is a nurse, she thinks that Donatello may have pneumonia, she is going to the pharmacy to get some breathing treatments, and is getting our sons nebulizer with clean tubing and mask. I am going to meet her at the gas station, we have got to get his breathing under control and get him coughing that stuff up, if not then he wont make it."

Splinter nodded and said "do what you have to." Frank nodded and ran out of the lair.

Splinter picked up his sick son and wrapped him in a blanket, taking him out to the living room he laid him down on the couch and waited for Frank to return.

Around half an hour later Frank returned with the medicine, he asked Splinter "do you have an outlet some where?"

"lets take him to his room, there are several in there that work."

Splinter turned to his other sons and said "boys, please stay in the living room and be good, I know you want to help but right now I need you out of the way ok?"

a kouras of "Hai Sensei." was heard.

Frank looked slightly puzzled by how they just spoke but he followed Splinter to Donatello's room.

Splinter cleared off the small table and they put the nebulizer down on it, Frank plugged it in and got the medicine put into the holder and put the mask on the top. Splinter propped pillows under his son's shell to hold him up. The entire time Donatello didn't have the strength to speak or to even really open his eyes, he wasn't limp but he awake to some what. And the sound of Donatello's harsh breathing filled the room, it came in short gasps.

Turning to Splinter Frank told him "ok, now have you ever seen one of these before?"

Splinter shook his head no.

"ok then, I am going to strap this around his head and turn the machine on, when I do it makes a lot of sound and white 'smoke' or white mist comes out. It will make him cough and hopefully we can get him to cough this crap up."

In saying Frank turned the machine on and the machine vibrated to life, they watched and waited, both adults were silent during the treatment.

After about five minutes into the treatment Donatello coughed violently, Splinter grabbed a near by trash can and took the mask off as Donatello coughed up what was in his lungs. Replacing the mask they waited for another round of coughing, which came a few moments later.

Frank smiled in satisfaction knowing he helped this small turtle, his heart went out to this family, he turned to Splinter and said "I know how you feel seeing him like this. A couple of years ago when my youngest was 2 years old he got pneumonia, he was in the hospital for days. We nearly lost him, that was the first time he had pneumonia, then my oldest got it last year. We had to do this exact treatment for him and it worked, it kept him out of the hospital at least."

Splinter looked at his son and told the man "thank you for all you have done, I never thought that a human would be nice enough to help us."

Frank smiled sadly at the rat and said "Splinter, I know some humans would reject you and your family but I know some humans wouldn't. I have a friend that loves turtles and his daughter has a pet turtle. I know your mutants and its not the same but my point is that they are an accepting family. But its like I explained to Raphael some humans are bad. I am so grateful I took that job down in that tunnel when he came down there alone. You see today's my day off and I got called in because my coworker couldn't work today. And my coworker... well lets just say he is one of the bad people that I warned your son about... I can't stand that man. But anyway if I had not been there I don't even want to think about what would have happened. I was shocked when I saw Raphael run up to me, I snapped at him a little when I asked him what he was doing here. But when he told me that Donatello was worse I came rushing here with him."

Donatello coughed again and Splinter once again took the mask off of him, Frank said to the boy "Donatello, its ok buddy don't fight it, cough that up."

Once the mask was back on Splinter said "thank you for your help, I probably would have lost him."

Frank smiled at him and said "hey us fathers have to stick together. If you ever need any help just let me know."

Splinter smiled at him and said "I will thank you. Do you think he will be ok now?"

Frank looked at Donnie and said "he is far from out of the woods yet, the coughing up stuff is only part of it. You will need to administer this medicine every 4 to 8 hours, and getting him to eat could be a problem too."

"he hasn't eaten much in days, I have tried."

Frank could see the mist was beginning to clear so he knew the treatment was nearly complete, "Splinter if it helps you to remember, write down the time you give him this treatment. That way you don't give him too much at once, you saw how I did it so I think you can do it on your own. My son doesn't need his Nebulizer right now so you are free to keep it how ever long you need it. My wife sent you a one month supply of treatments so you should be able to kick this stuff out of his system."

Frank got up and opened up the bag his wife had sent with him, "she also sent this to dry this stuff up too, its called Sudafed. He will need to take this every 6 hours, it will help too. She bought two boxes, so you should have enough."

There was a light knock on the door, Splinter and Frank turned to see Leonardo and Raphael enter the room Leo was holding a glass of water. Raph looked up at his father sheepishly and said "we thought he might be thirsty..."

Splinter smiled at his sons and said "thank you boys, your brother is going to need lots of rest."

Leo looked at his brother worriedly "is he going to be ok?"

Splinter put a hand on his shoulder and said "he will be now, it is going to take some time for his body to get well again. Where is Michelangelo?"

Raph answered "we told him to stay in the living room."

"I suggest you two go back to him, thank you for bringing this."

After the two left the room there was a moan from the bed the two men looked to Donatello and they saw his eyes start to open, "wha? what happened?"

Splinter told his son "you have been half asleep all day my son, I could not get your fever to break and you nearly stopped breathing."

Donatello looked at the machine next to him and asked "what is that?"

Frank answered "its called a Nebulizer, it helps administer medications that have to be inhaled." Frank had learned in the past few weeks that Donatello was highly intelligent and could understand things better then his brothers and even at times his father could. "I also brought some medicine that you have to swallow too, it will help dry up the stuff in your lungs faster."

Donnie nodded in understanding, he looked over at his father and said "I'm thirsty." Frank got one of the Sudafeds and said to Splinter "I would give him one now and then another one in a little while."

Splinter gave him a drink of water then had him take the small red pill, he swallowed it with out fuss, Frank added after Donatello took it, "it will make you drowsy though, but it will help a lot."

Donnie nodded and laid back on his pillows, Splinter told him softly "just rest my son, I will be back to check on you."

Donnie nodded as Splinter stood and the two adults walked out of the room, once in the living room Splinter said "thank you for all you have done for my family, you saved my sons life, for that I could never repay you for what you have done."

Frank smiled and said as he took Splinter's hand in his "don't thing nothing of it, just take care of that boy is all the payment you could give me."

They were silent for a moment then Frank said "I will bring down some soup for him later, I need to go let my wife know that the treatment helped a little."

Splinter bowed slightly and said "Hai, thank you for your help, and tell your wife thank you too." Frank grinned and said "I will, oh before I forget, I hooked something up for you." in saying he picked up a box he had brought back with him, he pulled out an old looking corded phone that had a dial on the front. Walking over to the kitchen he picked up a wire and hooked it up. "I set up a phone line for you, that way you can call me any time you need too. You do know how to use a phone right?"

Splinter knew some would take that offensively but he did not "Yes, I was once human." chuckling he said "ok good, I left my phone number on the refrigerator for you and your phone number is also on the refrigerator as well. and its an unlisted number so no one can call it but me."

Splinter had a question though "how did you know that a phone would work in here?"

"this area used to be an underground office for sewer workers, but they decided to move above ground and have it there. That's how I was able to come back here with out help, theres a map back at the office and I found it on there. When I get to work on Monday I will black out the area so that no one will go looking for it."

Splinter smiled and said "thank you for protecting our secret, and thank you for talking with Raphael about his actions." "not a problem, I will see you around. Let me know how he is doing."

Splinter waved to the man as he walked to the door and said "I sure will."

As the weeks went on Donatello slowly got better, Splinter got up in the middle of the night to give Donatello a nebulizer treatment then would have him go back to bed. It took about a week before Donatello was able to eat solid food again. It took some time before he could get out and play with his brothers again, but all the while Splinter thanked God for sending a nice man like Frank to get the medicine for Donatello. If it wasn't for the mans kindness then Donatello could have died.

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**A/N: I know that this was a long chapter but the next one shouldn't be as long. Hope you all enjoy it! Love all of you that have reviewed this. Its your reviews that has kept this story going as long as it has. I will probably go only let this go on for a little while longer. I have begun working on a new story called 'After the Blaze' set in the 2012 series. After I finally get it how I want it I will post it. But I think you all will love the story. I'm not giving out any details of the new story yet. But I will before I post it. **

**Please Review!**


	24. First Video Game

**First Video Game**

**A/N: I would like to thank JadeKurosaki for the inspiration for this chapter.**

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Splinter had reached the end of his rope with his eldest and youngest turtles, Raphael had bullied Michelangelo and Michelangelo had egged him on. Splinter liked to think he was a patient man but even he was wearing thin of the two young ones antics.

He finally made up his mind that he would take the two with him the next time he went scavenging.

A couple nights later Splinter told the four boys "tonight I am going to the surface to get supplies, I am taking Raphael and Michelangelo with me. Leonardo and Donatello I want the two of you to busy your selves by picking up the lair and straightening it up. You do not have to be done when we get back I just want you two busy."

Both boys stood at attention and said "Hai Sensei."

Mikey and Raph got ready to go, and as usual they started goofing off, "Raph that's my hat!"

"no it ain't its mine!"

"is not!"

"is too!"

Splinter shook his head and wondered if this was such a good idea. He stepped in and said "that is enough out of the two of you."

"but Sensei!" Mikey whined

"I said enough Michelangelo! Now come along."

Raph gave his little brother a triumphant look and followed their father out of the lair, it didn't take long for them to get to the junk yard.

Splinter had both of his sons in sight as he said "now, Raphael you may pick three items to take back. Michelangelo you may also take three items back with you, but I want the two of you to find one item each for your remaining brothers." The two turtles looked at each other and Mikey said "ok Raphie I will find something for Donnie you find something for Leo."

Raph just groaned and walked off, Splinter kept a close eye on his eldest son.

A short distance away Raphael found a strange box that had a round disk in it, shiny on one side the other had a motorcycle on it. He ran up to his father and asked "what is this?"

Splinter took the box in his hand and took out the disk "its a game my son, it is what human children use to amuse them selves instead of spending time out doors."

Splinter had limited knowledge of games but he knew that children became so engrossed into them that they missed out on the finer things in life, he noticed this when he had been human and he watched the neighbor children back in Japan.

Raph put it in his bag and said "I'm gonna keep it."

Looking down at his son he said "but we have no game system in which you could play it on. But there is a chance we could find one here, keep looking my son."

Mikey came running over and said to his big brother "Hey Raphie! Look what I found! Its a box with wires coming out!" Splinter looked between his two 7 year olds and said to Mikey "Michelangelo let me see that."

Mikey handed it over and Splinter noticed the same logo on the box as was on the game, "this goes with the game that Raphael found, we will see if it works and if we can fix it you two can share the game since you both found it." they cheered and put their game system away. Raph found two controllers for it and put that away too.

Once they were home the two brothers went to find Donatello and Leonardo, Leo was in the living room putting books away and straightening up the room. Donnie was in the kitchen putting away clean dishes.

Michelangelo ran into the kitchen while Raph went to Leo, Mikey told his older brother excitedly "guess what Donnie! We found a game! and all the stuff that goes with it!"

Donnie frowned "does it even work?"

Mikey shrugged and told him "don't know, Splinter said to make sure it works before we play it."

Donnie looked at the dishes in the sink left over from supper and said "Mikey, why don't you help me finish the dishes then I will help you with the game."

shrugging Mikey got his step stool and stood next to his brother as they finished the dishes.

Leo saw Raph coming to him "did you find anything interesting?"

Raph flopped down on the couch with his bag "yea we found this game system and a game to go with it."

"cool can I see it?"

"sure."

Grabbing Mikey's bag he got the game counsel out along with the remotes, and got the game out of his own bag, "see, it seems to be ok."

Just then Splinter came into the room and said softly "Leonardo, your brothers didn't have room in their bags but they found you some books."

Donatello and Michelangelo came out of the living room while Leonardo was putting his new books away, "so where is this game Mikey was telling me about?"

Raph held it up to him, Donnie reached over the couch and took it from his brother, "huh, its an original PlayStation?"

Walking over to the TV he got it hooked up, leave it to Donatello to always know how to hook something up that was foreign to them.

After he dusted the machine and cleaned it up a bit he took the game and put it in. After a moment of black screen the screen jumped to life, and the sound of motorcycles could be heard. Raph picked up the controller and started pressing buttons at random.

Mikey sat down next to him, and said "how does it work?"

Raph gave him a side ways look and told him gruffly "how the shell am I supposed to know?"

Leonardo, Donatello and Splinter were standing behind the couch watching Raphael trying out the buttons on the controller. After several failed attempts Raphael finally managed to get to the racing part of the game.

Donnie pointed out to him "uh Raph you are aware that you selected 2 player right?"

Raph looked up at him then handed Mikey the second controller, the two eventually learned how to control their bikes, it was an intense game.

Hours crept by and Splinter came and told them "boys it is time for dinner."

Raph didn't even look up "yea in a minute, Come on Mikey! Would ya stop running into me!"

"I am not running into you! you just keep getting in the way of where I am going!"

Splinter watched in amusement as his sons enjoyed their game, he decided if they got hungry enough they would come eat, usually he would insist they shut it off and leave it but this was something new. So he was going to let them have their fun as long as possible.

The two brothers played long into the evening, when bed time approached Splinter went to their sides and said to them "my sons, it is time for bed, you have been playing all day now is the time to stop for a while." Raph hit pause and said "aww come on Masta Splinta can't we play a little longer?"

Splinter chuckled and said "no my sons, you may continue after breakfast and ninja practice in the morning."

Mikey looked at his oldest brother and then to his father "please? Can we play for half hour longer? Please Sensei?"

Splinter tried not to look his youngest son in the eye, for when he did he usually gave in, trying to stand his ground he said "no, you must go to bed."

Michelangelo produced tears in his eyes, and unfortunately Splinter noticed the pleading look in his youngest son's eyes and sighed saying "ok, fine 30 minutes."

"YES!" came from both brothers.

Splinter shook his head and said under his breath "kids..."

Splinter went to his room to lay down for the 30 minutes that he gave the boys to play their game, he smiled at the sound of their playing.

_In the living room..._

Raph was having fun jumping over hurdles with his bike on the game, he and his little brother didn't spend a lot of time together unless they were fighting or rough housing so this was a change of pace for the family.

Mikey ran into Raph's Bike again, Raph growled and said "you'll pay for that!"

"how? I don't have no money!"

"grrr! Mikey! that's not what I ment you little twirp! now stop running into me! we have a race to finish!"

"ha ha I am playing my way!"

In saying Mikey rammed into Raph's bike again this time knocking him off and taking the lead, he could hear Raph's frustrated growl as he got back on the bike again and took off, only to run into the tree that was half a mile away from him.

Mikey laughed and sang "Raph, Raph, Raphie of the jungle look out for that tree!"

Raph glared at his little brother and pushed his bike to the limit, but what he didn't see was a log up ahead, "NO!" Raph hit it head on not being able to stop in time. The bike flipped end over end before landing on its side.

Just as Mikey ran across the finish line Raph's little man got back on the bike but the game already read 'player 2 wins!'

_In Splinter's room..._

Splinter was jolted awake by hearing Michelangelo's triumphant cry that he had won the game, Splinter looked over at his clock and realized that the boys had been playing for over two hours past the time frame he had given them. Getting up he went back out to the living room and cleared his throat, the two turtles looked up at him and Raph said "oops... Sorry Sensei, we must have lost track of time."

"as I can see that, now go to bed boys, and turn your game off you can play it tomorrow."

they both bowed and said "Hai Sensei."

Splinter looked at the video game box and chuckled to himself, he remembered when he was a boy and was interested in a new toy as well, he knew they would be back at it bright and early the next morning.

_Ten years later..._

"Damn Mike you beat me again! How is it you keep winning?"

Mikey looked over at his brother and said "Raph, we have been playing this game for ten years now, and the reason you keep loosing is because you loose your concentration and patience. And there for you loos every time."

Raph through the now well worn out controller on the ground and said "yea what ever!"

Leo walked in and said to his little brother "some things never change."

They both laughed and Leo took his turn playing, the game may have been old but the four brothers will always remember it as their first video game.


	25. First Trip to the Hashi

**A/N:** sorry haven't updated for a while, it seemed that reviews had gone down and no one was interested anymore so I took a break.

**Ch. 25**

** First: Trip to the Hashi**

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7 year old Michelangelo was running from his three older brothers who were chasing him for pulling a prank again on them, after a while Leo gave up the chase and let his older and younger brothers chase him. Michelangelo was a fast turtle for being so small, and Leo really didn't feel like dealing with Splinter's wrath. Especially when he threatened a new form of discipline called 'The Hashi." Leo didn't know what it was but he sure didn't wanna be the first turtle to find out.

Leo got a book and sat down on the couch with his legs up over the edge lazily reading and listening to his brothers.

At some point Mikey came running trough the living room, he decided to hide between the couch and the chair, Leonardo swung his legs around and sat up.

"what are you doing now?"

Mikey put a finger to his lips and said to his older brother "shh! I don't want them to find me..."

"if you three get caught by father for running in the lair you had better not come crying to me about it."

"I aint gonna get caught! Besides I seem to recall you were running after me at some point too!"

Leo frowned and said "ya little twerp, at least I didn't switch all the stuff around in Donnie and Raph's room!"

"What! I thought that their room needed a little re decorating!"

Leo could hear his other two brothers coming and said quietly "well Mikey I don't think Donnie wants his dresser sitting on top of Raph's dresser."

Mikey frowned again and told his brother "why not? He is taller then the rest of us?"

"how did you even manage that? Your too short to do it on your own."

"am not!"

"are too!"

"am not!"

Leo grinned and knew how to end this.

"am not!"

Mikey fell for it.

"are too!"

He paused and said "hey! you tricked me!"

"yea and caused Raph to find you!"

Mikey turned around to see his oldest brother standing there pounding his right fist into his left hand.

"now... how bout that game of... Does Mikey bend that way..."

Mikey gulped, and tried to move only to have Donnie hold him still.

Splinter was in the kitchen making dinner when he heard Michelangelo scream, he shook his head in annoyance, he had told the turtles to stop running in the lair. Then he had told them not to fight.

Putting the soup on the back burner he went out the kitchen door to see about his adopted sons.

He was angry as well as surprised to find Michelangelo strapped to Raphael's punching bag with several belts and a rope.

Raphael held his fist back as Mikey tried to turn his head, Raph had been playing chicken with him and had only hit him twice in the gut. And faked hitting him in the face three times.

He pulled his fist back to dealt him another blow to the gut when a firm hand grabbed his arm, looking up he saw the angry eyes of his father.

Splinter pulled Raphael away from the punching bag and said sternly "what are you doing? I told you not to fight with your brothers?"

Raph tried to look puzzled and told his father "we were practicing Sensei."

Splinter frowned deeper at his son and said "how to fight with out honor? is that what your practicing?"

Raph shook his head "no, I captured him, so now I am teaching him what its like to fight with out honor."

Splinter had had enough of Raphael's play on words for one day and said "that is enough, your going to spend some time in the Hashi."

Raph gulped and looked over at Donnie and Leo for support, they both shrugged and turned to leave the room.

Splinter whipped his head around to see the two retreating turtles "not so fast boys. Where do you think your going?"

Donatello and Leonardo froze in their spots, Leo slowly turned around to face his father, "we were just going to... uh... Donnie?"

Donnie spun around and said quickly "we were going to go clean up the living room! Yea and we were going to go clean our rooms after that, and make our beds..."

"Enough... Leonardo, release your brother and then go to the dojo, Donatello come with me."

Donnie shot a glance over at his older brother and told him softly "see what happens when you guys make me come out of my work shop?"

"DONATELLO! DOJO! NOW!"

Donnie felt his stomach clench as he walked into the dojo, when he walked in he noticed a thin plank running across about a five foot span being supported by two large blocks on either side. About ten feet away was a good size ball that had a table next to it with some dishes on it. Looking to the left he saw a rickety old rocking chair and a small table next to it with a couple of eggs on it and two spoons. And he saw a fourth one set up, it was just a chair sitting in the room, he wondered what it was for.

Splinter cleared his throat to get his son's attention, Donnie looked over to see his father and brother waiting.

"Donatello, you know I don't approve of lying, I know you took some part in what Michelangelo was being put through. For this go stand next to the ball, Raphael go stand next to the beam."

He received a duel Hai Sensei's from his two sons.

Moments later Leonardo and Michelangelo walked in, Mikey was holding his stomach. Splinter asked him "are you alright Michelangelo?"

Mikey looked up at his father, but was afraid to speak because of the bile raising in this throat, Splinter could clearly see his son was pale and in sever discomfort.

Looking over at Leonardo he said "go stand by the chair with the table."

Splinter could hear sounds coming from his sons stomach and knew he needed to get this started.

He turned to his three sons and said "Raphael you are to stand on the beam on one leg, you must do this for one hour, if you fail and fall your time starts all over again. Donatello, you are to stand on the ball and balance your self as you hold that stack of dishes on your head, if one is to fall then your time will start over as well. Leonardo you are to stand on the back of that chair and balance while holding those spoons with eggs on them, as with your brothers if either should fall your time starts completely over."

Splinter watched as each of his sons got in their respective places and did what they were told to do, he could see this could be a very long night as Raphael had already come off his beam twice now in less then a minute.

Looking down at his youngest son he said "you will do this another time, for now come with me."

Mikey hiccupped a couple of times before Splinter picked his son up and carried him quickly to the bathroom where he got sick. Splinter knew his son was not truly ill but his stomach was just upset from the trauma from earlier.

"do you feel any better now?"

Mikey looked up at his father and said hoarsely "yea, I guess... Why didn't you make me go to the Hashi?"

Splinter smiled at his son and replied "because I noticed that you seemed to have an upset stomach, if I had made you do your Hashi punishment then there would have been a mess all over he floor."

Mikey frowned and asked "what is mine?"

"to do a hand stand on the back of a chair for one hour, I may be angry at you boys but I am not heartless."

"are you mad because I started it?"

"how did you start it?"

Mikey paused then said softly "I uh... re arranged Raphie and Donnie's room... and I may have move some of Donnie's projects that were sitting on his nightstand..."

Splinter gave him a stern look and then asked "then what happened?"

"Raphie and Donnie came into their room and saw what I did... At first they yelled at me... then Raph started to chase me... Donnie followed."

"so why was Leonardo chasing you?"

"I may have short folded the sheet on his bed and hid his meditation mat... He was more annoyed then anything, and after a few minutes of chasing me he went to read in the living room."

"So who's idea was it to tie you up to the punching bag?"

"Raphie's... Donnie just held me down... When you walked in Leo had just come in to tell them to let me go, that I had learned my lesson."

Splinter felt his heart sink... he punished one of his sons for doing nothing wrong.

What he didn't understand though was if Leonardo was innocent why did he not defend him self?

Splinter felt like a fool at the moment, he looked down once more and asked "are you feeling better?"

"Hai Sensei."

"ok, come with me."

They walked into the dojo and said "teishi!"

All three of his sons looked over and Splinter said to them "Leonardo, come with me Donatello and Raphael continue. Michelangelo, go to the remaining chair and do a hand stand on the back. If you fall off or give up, you time will restart."

Mikey looked up at his father and said respectively "Hai Sensei."

The youngest turtle took his position on the back of the chair, from here he could see Raphael as he struggled to remain on his beam, he took the chance and asked "So how many times has your clock restarted?"

Raphael looked over at his youngest brother and said harshly "shut up Mikey! Just shut up!"

Donnie stole a glance over at his oldest brother then said to Mikey "His time has started over about twenty times... nope make that 21 times. Mine has started over twice."

Raph looked over at Donnie and said sharply "DONNIE! I am warning ya! If ya keep flappin your yap like that I am gonna make your time start over again and then when this is over your going to be the punching bag!"

Splinter stood in the door way and said to Raphael "Just for that Raphael, you get an additional 30 minutes."

Snickering could be heard out of the other two younger turtles as Raph glared at his father then to his brothers. He saw Leo standing next to their father and asked "so why is Leo not doing this torture?"

"Because he did the knobble thing and walked away, you have got to learn to control your anger Raphael."

He walked over to Donatello and told him "just because Raphael does something does not mean you can follow his lead, do I make my self clear?"

Donnie tried to look at his father but his arms were giving out an he had sweat dripping down his face for doing this for so long, he didn't answer right away.

Splinter hated to repeat him self but he said "Do you under stand me Donatello?"

_aw crud he is expecting an answer, if I break my concentration I will drop this and have to start over again, and I only have fifteen minutes left..._

Donnie gulped nervously and said in a shaky voice "H-Hai, S-S-Sensei."

It was the only thing he could think of saying if he didn't want his time to start over, unfortunately his balance began to tip, Splinter saw this and put his hand on Donatello's shell keeping him there.

Looking at the clock he said to his second youngest son "I think you have learned your lesson Donatello, for this you may come down."

Splinter took the dishes and let his son down, looking over he asked Raphael "how much time do you have left?"

Raph looked at his father and said heatedly "50 minutes."

Splinter knew he could not show mercy on this son, for he would learn nothing, "then continue, I will be back to check on you two." Going out of the dojo he had Donatello go ahead and sit at the kitchen table with his older brother. Going back to the stove he put the soup back on the front burner and turned up the heat, once it bubbled he poured the soup into two bowls for his sons. Looking up at the clock he saw it was nearing the turtle's bed time, going back into the dojo while the two ate he saw Michelangelo still staying strong on the chair.

He asked his youngest "how much time do you have left?"

Mikey looked at the clock by Raphael and said "my time was up five minutes ago."

Splinter was shocked, an hour had gone by already, "you may get down."

Mikey's arms gave out when he went to try and put his feet on the seat of the chair. Splinter caught him before he could hurt him self, "what have you learned?"

Mikey looked over at his angry oldest brother then back to his father "to not go into my brother's room with out their permission."

"and?"

Mikey looked down at the floor and said "to not re arrange a room with out permission."

"good, now go to the kitchen and wait for me."

Mikey nodded and did as he was told.

Splinter walked over to Raphael and asked "how much time now?"

Raph stole a glance up at the clock and said "45 minutes."

"how? you had 50 minutes when I left you over an hour ago?"

"i fell a few more times... This is stupid! how am I supposed to learn anything?"

"Raphael, the point of this is so you know that you did something wrong, and when you do something wrong there is a price to pay."

"by what? falling and restarting time? I have been doing this for over two and a half hours!"

"Raphael, you have a temper to control, this exercise is to teach you to control it. Standing on this beam teaches one control, and balance. If you want any supper before bed you will learn to control your self, find balance and finish your time. I will be back to check on you, if your time has restarted again then you will go directly to bed with out supper and think about how you treat your little brothers."

Raphael watched his father leave him alone, he felt him self begin to tip, he kept telling him self _oh no you don't! I want off this crazy thing! but I want off of here in the next 40 minutes._

Raph could hear his brothers heading to bed, he looked back up at the clock, he had 10 minutes to go. With sweat rolling down his face he tried his best to control his balance.

He could hear his father come back into the room, he looked up at the clock and saw he had 3 minutes left.

Splinter had set a timer and came back into the room he saw his son still standing on the beam, "time?"

Raph couldn't look at his father due to concentrating so hard "2 minutes."

Splinter saw the horror take over his sons face as he lost his balance at the one minute mark, Raphael hit the ground, but this time didn't get up. Splinter walked over and saw tears running down his son's face.

Raph looked up at his father and asked pleadingly "please don't make me do that over... Please..."

Splinter could see that Raphael had learned his lesson and said "i will not, but you now know how to control your self my son, you need to understand Raphael that even though Michelangelo just pulled a prank on you, does not give you the right to act with out honor. To attack your victim when he is defenseless is dishonorable and is what villains do. I have taught you all about honor and how to treat each other if I ever catch you doing something like this again then the consequences will be more severe am I understood?"

Raphael looked up at his father and said "yes father, I understand... I'm sorry."

"it is not to me who you need to apologize too, before you go to the kitchen go to Michelangelo's room and tell him what you just told me."

"Hai Sensei."

Raph stood on trembling knees as he struggled to walk to his brother's room, he knocked and received an answer from Leo "come in."

upon entering Leo gave him a questioning look "what do you want?"

Raph glanced up at him in his bunk bed and said sharply "shut it fearless!"

He gently woke Mikey, Mike stared up at his oldest brother with worry on his face _is he gonna get me back now? Now that he is out of the Hashi? _

Raph smiled at him and said "don't worry, I am not gonna hurt ya, scoot over."

Mikey did as told, Raph sat down and took a deep breath "Look Mike, I am sorry for loosing it earlier... I should never have done that... I am also sorry I made you sick."

Mikey sat up and gave Raph a hug, "i forgive you Raphie... But are you really gonna beat up Donnie?"

Raph chuckled and said "no, its not honorable to hit a guy with glasses now is it?"

Mikey laughed and said "I'm tired."

"go back to sleep little brother, and I promise, I will never tie you down like that again. I know now that was a wrong thing to do."

"what it took you over 3 hours to figure that one out?" Leo said from his bunk.

Raph punched the bottem side of the mattress and said "i think I told you to shut up! I wasn't talking to you in the first place."

Looking back at his youngest brother he said "get some sleep, see you in the morning."

Raph walked out of the room and to the kitchen where he ate what was left of the soup, he had one last thought before going back to his room _I hope I never have to go through that again!_

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**A/N: hope I did the Hashi bit right, got he idea for the individual items from the movie, hope I was right. Remember to Review or PM me with your vote.**


	26. First Lesson about Life

**A/N: **  
In this chapter I do talk about aspects of religion, I for one am a Christian but I know there are different beliefs. Know that I am only bring it up because of a situation and questions the turtles are dealing with and asking. No Flames please. I am not preaching anything its just the questions the turtles are asking is what is bringing it up. Believe what you want to I am not judging any one.

**Firsts chapter 26**

**First Lesson About Life**

* * *

Splinter was out scavenging for his sons on a late night in mid December, since they were now 13 he started to bring them with him more often but one at a time, tonight he had Donatello with him.

They had been out for a while now.

They were not getting random items this time they were out to get enough food for the winter. Splinter had heard from an old man back in November that this was going to be a very hard winter. So Splinter wanted to be prepared, every week for the past month he had taken at least one of his sons with him to gather what they would need for the harsh winter ahead.

Going to yet another grocery store dumpster Splinter noticed a figure laying near by, turning to his second youngest he said quietly "Donatello, be as silent as you can, we do not want to disturb that person over there."

Donnie nodded his understanding and stayed close by the dumpster, he noticed an odd smell coming from the person near by, but he tried to ignore it. He could hear his father rustling around in the dumpster looking for supplies.

Donne noticed that the person never moved and they had been there quite some time, he took his bo off his back and used it to touch the person, when he didn't receive any response he knocked on the dumpster to get his father's attention.

Splinter appeared over the edge and asked "what is it my son?"

"i think something is wrong with that guy... he hasn't moved and we have been here quite a while."

Splinter jumped down and approached with caution, he told his son who was moving in next to him "stay back."

Donatello remained by the dumpster and waited for his father.

Splinter noticed the smell, and knew what it was... he looked back at Donatello, then went over took the cover off the man. Splinter noticed how grey the man was and could see there was no breath leaving his mouth. Looking back at his son he covered the man up, going over to his child he told him "Donatello, the man is gone."

Frowning he asked "what do you mean gone?" Splinter didn't have to answer him for Donatello already knew the answer, "you mean... he's... dead?"

Splinter nodded and said "yes, he is dead my son."

"why didn't he go home if he was so cold?"

"he didn't have a home my son."

"why?"

"My son, even humans have a story, just as we do. I was virtually homeless when I came to America, but I was fortunate to find work and a small apartment. This man may not have been so lucky. He may not even have a family that knows about him."

"i thought every one had a family?"

"Not every does, some people do and some don't."

Donatello just stared at the figure and couldn't rap his mind around what he was seeing, he asked "can we call some one?"

"yes, we can. Come my son, I know of a pay phone near by."

While his father made a phone call Donatello stood by and thought about the man in the ally... _where do people go when they die? Why do people die? Why did he die alone?_

He was so focused on his thoughts he didn't hear his father talking to him, Splinter had to gently shake his son's shoulders to get his attention. "Donatello, my son come, we must go."

In the distance Donnie could hear the sounds of sirens coming their way, he felt his father take his arm firmly and pull him into an ally near by. Looking up at his father he wanted to ask so many questions but he knew he had to remain silent so they were not discovered.

Splinter could see it in his sons face that hey were going to need to have a talk when they got back home.

Forty five minutes later Splinter and Donatello arrived home after doing a little more scavenging, the entire time Donatello didn't utter a word except yes or no when asked a question.

During supper Leo noticed his younger brother being out of the norm quiet, even Mikey's endless chatter did not faze him. He also noticed that his younger brother didn't eat hardly anything before asking to be excused from the table. Leo hurried and finished his meal, he had to find out what was going on, Splinter had been mentioning that he was going to choose a leader soon and he along with Raphael were the only two runner ups for the position. And he wanted to impress his father enough that he would choose him.

Getting up with permission he went after his genius brother, he found him in his bed under his blankets. Leonardo could hear the sounds of his little brother crying, he knocked on the door frame before entering. He could hear Donnie take a sharp breath in and then he said miserably "what do you want Leo?"

Donnie felt his older brother sit down next to him on the bed, "i want to talk, why didn't you eat dinner?"

"not hungry."

"Did something happen while you two were out?"

"No..."

Leo could feel the tension build in his little brother and he patted his brother's shell and said "i am always here if you need to talk bro. Don't be afraid to come to me."

He saw the blankets move and he knew his brother shrugged as an answer. Leo nodded and got up, once outside the door he ran into Raph who looked at him questioningly.

"what were you doing in my room?"

"Checking on Donnie."

"Why?"

"Didn't you notice he was so silent at dinner, and then left with out eating?"

Raph rolled his eyes and sad "jeez your dense! Didn't YOU notice how he came home crying when they got back? Donnie always tells us about the things he sees up top, and always tells us if he found something interesting. Or what faze the moon is in or what ever... Something happened on the surface and it rattled him, if ya push him to talk he will just keep away even more."

Leo stood there in silence for a moment before asking "so your saying to just give him time to come around?"

"yes, he needs space right now, I told him when I saw him crying before that if he needed to talk that we was all here and he would always have some one. I opened the door now he just has to let us in."

"When did you get so much like Splinter?"

Raph chuckled and said "cause Splinter told me the same thing when I had tried to get him to talk earlier."

Leo nodded his understanding but wondered why his little brother was so upset.

"you don't think he got into trouble up there do you?"

Raph shook his head and told his younger brother "nah I don't see him getting THAT bad when going to the surface, not if he ever wants to go back up."

Both brothers were silent for several moments, Splinter came into the hall and saw his two eldest sons he asked "is every thing ok my sons?"

Leo and Raph looked at each other and Leo said "what happened to Donnie?"

Splinter, watched his two sons for a moment before saying "my sons, that is for Donatello to tell not me, lets just say he had a bad scare tonight."

In saying he left them to their thoughts and went to meditate, as he entered his room up the hall he said "let him be tonight my sons, he will talk when he is ready."

Leo and Raph just looked at each other and knew they would have to just wait, they hoped what ever was bothering their brother would surface and he would ask for help.

Many nights had passed and Raphael laid once again on his back and listened to his little brother cry in his sleep.

His patience wearing thin as the nights went on, he was growing tired of hearing Leo telling him to just be patient. Today during morning practice they had gotten into a heated argument, it nearly got them thrown into the Hashi. But Splinter knew they were growing frustrated.

Michelangelo didn't understand what was wrong with his immediate older brother, he just knew he wasnt acting like his self lately. He had tried to make jokes, and try and lighten the mood for his brother but he could tell something was off. Donnie was way out of character that was all he needed to know.

Donatello knew his brothers cared but he just couldnt tell them what was wrong, and the nightmares kept haunting him like tonight, he could hear Raph's frustrated sighs and knew he was like a volcano ready to blow.

He laid there and cried for several minutes more before he heard the mattress above him groan as his oldest brother got up. He looked to the foot of the bed and saw Raph descend the ladder, he knew one of two things, Raph was either going to talk to him OR he was going to the bathroom.

He saw his brother coming his way and he knew he may not get out of it this time by how angry Raph looked.

Closing his eyes tight he rolled over to face the wall, he felt unfortunately a strong pair of hands pulling his shell around to face him.

"Nice try brainiac! Not gonna work this time, now listen, I have been patient for over a week now and you know damn well that is hard for me. Now your going to tell me what happened and your NOT gonna shrug me off this time!"

Raph had been speaking in a loud whisper, but Donnie got the point loud and clear, sitting up in his bed he set his shell against the wall with his head lowered due to the bed above him.

Taking a deep breath he said softly "Raph do you ever think about where we go when we die?"

Raph frowned deeply and asked "why would you ask that?"

Donnie shrugged and replied "i dont know, its just a question."

Raph knew there was something else "does this have to do wit what happened last week?"

Donnie nodded but didnt say anything.

Raph sat and waited in silence as he could see Donnie still had something to say.

"when we were out... I saw someone laying near the dumpster by the wall on a bench, Splinter was in the dumpster and told me to just stand there and make sure the person didnt wake up and see me. I went over after a while of him never moving... and poked him with my BO staff... he still didnt move... then I realized that a strange smell was coming off of him... I called for Splinter and he came and checked on the person..."

Donnie hiccuped as a freash round of tears formed in his eyes, "the guy... he was dead..."

Raph frowned and said softly "this is what has been bothering you?"

Donnie nodded and continued "yes... when Splinter pulled the guys blanket back I saw his white face... and I mean really white. I had never seen something like that before..."

"what about that rat we all found some years back? That didnt bother you?"

"it didnt bother me because it had been hit by a car, and was swept down the drain hole on the street curb. This bothers me because it was a human, some one who probably had a family..."

Raph usually left the sentimental stuff for Leo, but his little brother was opening up to him so he tried to push the weirdness of this situation away and help. Putting an arm around his brother he told him softly  
"Donnie... if the guy was homeless then his family wasnt around or just didnt care..."

"why would some one turn away on their family?"

"i really dont have an answer for that, what I do know is that a real loving family is there for each other and dont turn the other away when they have a problem. Maybe that guy turned on his own family, or maybe he didnt want to burden them with what was going on with him. We will never know."

Just then the door creaked open and Splinter stepped into the room "What you say is true Raphael, we do not know the man's story. Donatello that man, I checked up on him, he had no family in New York... but he did have family in another state that knew nothing of his situation."

Both turtles looked up at their father the same question in both of their eyes.

"I have my ways my sons, besides we do have a phone. The man had a job and was laid off a couple of months ago, with the hope of returning to work he didnt bother his family with what was going on. Every one has their own story my sons."

Donnie looked up at his father who took a chair and sat across from them, he asked his father "where do we go when we die?"

Splinter smiled at his son and told him honestly "well my son, there are multiple theory's. Some say we dont go anywhere, others say that we go to this place called heaven."

"what if we are bad?"

Splinter looked over at his eldest son and said "how about we make this a family discussion, I think that all four of you are going to have a lot of questions."

Donnie looked up and asked as his father left "in the middle of the night?"

"Right now is as good a time as any my son, you will sleep better knowing the answers to your questions."

Splinter went to go wake his remaining two sons, then he went back to the other two. "boys will you come to the living room."

Raph and Donnie stepped out into the hall way to see Leo and Mikey who still had sleep in their eyes.

Splinter watched his children sit, he stopped Donnie "Donatello, please come up here."

Donnie stood next to his father and Splinter put a hand on his shoulder and said "Donatello is ready to talk about what happened last week, I will let him tell you then I have something to say."

Donnie took a deep breath and said "last week I saw a man up on the surface, he was dead when I found him. I have never seen that before and it scared me, I didnt know how to take it. I know you guys always come to me for answers cause you know most of the time I have an answer for nearly everything. But this was the first time I had ever been stumped on something, I didnt understand what had happened or why he was dead."

Leo and Mikey nodded their understanding, and Splinter motioned for his son to sit down, clearing his throat he said "my sons, I have tried for 13 years now to keep you all safe from the outside world, but there are just somethings that I can not protect you from. What your brother witnessed was a normal part of life, and it is confusing if you never have seen it before. You all remember the rat that fell down from above that had been hit by a car. Well this is more then just your typical animal falling down from the streets. With out humans we would probably not survive if it wasnt for them producing food, if it was possible we would grow our own food down here but we can't do that.

This was all a life lesson my sons, for every man that dies a new one is born."

Mikey raised his hand "where did he go when he died?"

"Probably to the morgue Mikey!" Leo told his brother.

Splinter hushed Leo and said to his youngest "Donatello asked the same question, I will tell you the same thing. Some people believe we go no where, others believe we go to heaven when we die."

Raph asked again "what about if we are bad?"

"depends my son... if your a killer, or some one who stalks people to intentionally hurt them, or do other various crimes then you go to a place called hell."

Mikey asked next "so if we dont eat our veggies, cuss and have a bad attitude?"

Splinter smiled inwardly at the innocent question but knew who he was intending it towards said "well, since I am pretty sure I know who your talking about, he will go to where ever he chooses to go. I for one believe in heaven, so their for that is where he may go in my mind. You see Michelangelo you have to do more crimes then just not eating vegitables, and having a bad temper to go Hell."

every one was silent for a few minutes then Leonardo asked "so did that man go to heaven or hell?"

"i do not know that my son, we never know really what happens when we die, but we make guesses and hope they go to a better place when they die."

The four turtles looked at each other before Donatello asked "I have heard people say certain words on the surface over the years... but the scream it some times so I dont know if its a bad word."

Splinter thought about what his son ment, then it dawned on him, "ah the name in question is not a bad word my son, but it does depend on how it is used that makes up the meaning. Some people believe in this man called 'God' and his son 'Jesus' other people dont belive."

"so when we go some where when we die we go see them?"

"Yes that is what some believe."

"then who controls Hell?" Raphael asked

"the devil."

Every one was silent, Splinter looked over at the clock and noticed it was four O'Clock in the morning, he asked his sons "are there any more questions?"

The four brothers looked at each other and then they all shook their heads, Splinter then asked "do you want to go back to bed? We normally get up in just about two hours."

Again the four looked at each other and Donnie said "i want to go back to bed."

Splinter nodded as the other three looked at each other and then Raph spoke up "i am going back to bed too..."

Leo and Mikey shrugged and Mikey said happily "i will just stay up." Leo decided this to be a good idea too.

Splinter told his sons "you may my sons but please be respectful of your sleeping brothers, we wont have morning practice as it has been a trying night, we will just have afternoon and evening practice."

They all nodded and went their separate ways.

Splinter knew this had been a show of growing up as they had asked some very good questions, he knew that one day he too would be gone and he hoped that he helped them prepare for that.


	27. First Skate Board

**Firsts chapter 27**

**A/N: **thank you **MinecraftedPocky** for the idea for this chapter! It's a little different then what you suggested but not by too much. Enjoy!

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Michelangelo sat with Donatello in his workshop/Laboratory, just recently he had been allowed to start messing with chemicals again after the near fire and destruction of the lair some time before. He watched some what quietly as his older brother mixed more chemicals together. After a while Mikey told his brother "i am board..."

Donnie looked over and told him "then go play, I am working."

Splinter was off scavenging with this two eldest sons, he usually only took one son but what he was looking for would require some added assistance.

Mikey frowned and asked "can I go walking in the sewers?"

Donnie put down the beaker he had in his hand and said "fine what ever, but just don't wander too far! Or Splinter will have my head."

Mikey rolled his eyes at that and got off the stool he had been sitting on and walked out of the room.

After going out to the main room he got his coat since it was chilly and he didn't want to hear it from Donnie if he got sick.

He walked for some time before something caught his eye, it was odd shape with wheels, picking it up he said aloud "what is this?"

Then he remembered what he had seen on TV and said excitedly "its a skate board! I wanted to try that out for a long time now!"

All but running back to the lair with his possession he ran into the bathroom and began to clean it off, to his horror it broke apart.

"NO! DON'T DO THAT!"

Donnie frowned when he heard his little brother come back and then yell, thinking the worst he went to the bathroom and found his little brother standing over a skateboard that had really seen better days.

"You know I can fix that?"

Mikey spun around and said "really?"

Smiling Donnie said "yea its easy. Better yet I will teach you, it will give you something to do."

The two brothers went back to the workshop, Donnie picked up his mess and then turned to his little brother.

"Ok, set it down on the bench over there and we will get to work."

The two worked together for almost an hour before they had finished, they stood back and admired their work it was orange with a black stripe down the center with dark purple wheels. Just a simple skateboard was all that made Mikey happy.

They had to remake the board but they got it to where it would hold Michelangelo's weight and not snap.

Donnie smiled and told him "well let's go try it out."

Going out of the lair the brothers were happy at their success, Mikey put the skateboard down and tried to use it for the first time.

Donnie watched as Mikey put on foot on the board and one on the ground, Mikey looked back and said "ok, how do I take off?"

"push-off with your left foot and do that until you have enough speed you can pick your left foot up and put it on the board with the right."

Mikey did just what his brother said, after a few failed attempts Mikey stayed on the board, he whooped and hollered in delight as he sailed up and down the tunnel. He felt so free for an 11-year-old.

Donnie laughed when Mikey got brave and tried to jump over a sewer rat that was eating some trash, he cleared it and kept going.

Mikey skidded to a stop in front of his older brother and said happily "thanks so much D, do you wanna try it?"

"Me? No, I would just wind up hurting my self."

"aw come on, please? We can ride it together!"

Donnie rolled his eyes and said in defeat "oh alright if you insist."

Not wanting to spoil Mikey's good mood he humored his little brother and put his foot on the board and held on to this brother's shell. They both pushed off and went pretty fast up the tunnel, after a few paces they didn't see a pipe in the way and when they hit it they flew into a bunch of water on the ground.

Laughing they both sat up, Donnie looked over and asked "you ok? Man that was fun!"

Mikey sat up a few feet away and told him "yea, I'm fine, that was awesome! Wanna do it again?"

Donnie knew they were not far from the lair and he said "yea, lets head to the lair and just do laps up and down that tunnel so that when the others get back they don't worry."

Mikey shrugged and got back on, they road back and forth for quite a while until they saw their brothers and Sensei coming. Mikey grinned and pushed off Donnie holding on tight they stopped just in front of Splinter.

"Look what I found earlier! Donnie and I fixed it!"

Smiling Splinter said "so you taking it out for a test spin?"

"yep! And we are having a blast!"

Splinter knew it was rare for Donatello to leave his workshop, he always knew that the young turtle needed to find something fun and as it seemed he enjoyed skateboarding.

He chuckled and said "very well, go have fun. You may go further than this tunnel if you wish to explore."

Their eyes lit up at the sound of that and they both shouted "thanks Sensei!"

Taking off the two had the best time riding the sewers on their new board, they had decided to share it since they both loved it so much.

Leo and Raph watched as their two younger brothers disappeared from view, Leo looked up at Splinter "don't we need their help to put this stuff away?"

Splinter shook his head and said "it is not easy to get Donatello out of his workshop, so if he is having fun playing right now, coming back to the lair would be a bad idea. He would then want to go back to his workshop and stay there. Let him have some free time where he can just have fun."

About an hour and a half later Donnie and Mikey returned from their adventure, Donnie walked in proudly and announced to Splinter "look what we found! A second skateboard! This one is in a little better condition then Mikey's was in! I am going to go fix it up!"

Splinter stood in the kitchen making dinner when he heard his son's excited exclaim about a second board.

For the remainder of the week Donatello and Michelangelo had fun riding the sewers racing each other on their boards having fun.

They had their falls, and other mishaps but that is going to happen when your skateboarding in a sewer!


	28. First Home Intruder

**Firsts ch 28**

**A/N: **This chapter is based off an idea from the episode 'Tales of Leo' in the 2003 series. It dates back to when they were little kids around 8 or 9 years old. And for all of you Michelangelo and Leonardo fans this is a Leo Mikey chapter!

**Sairey13 **this is for you and your idea in your review. Thanks!

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Mikey woke up early that morning, he knew Splinter had gone off with Donnie and Raph, he said it would be too difficult to take all four of them but he would take the remaining two in time. They went on a retreat to learn to meditate with out distractions, he went out into the living room and saw his older brother sitting on the couch reading.

Leo smiled and looked over when Mikey entered, "hey Mike, its kind of nice with out there being 5 of us isn't it?"

"yea, yea... when did Splinter say he would be back?"

"in a few days."

Walking into the kitchen he looked in the fridge, Splinter had told them not to touch the stove for what ever reason. He sighed as he looked in the fridge for something to eat, getting out the milk he decided to make cereal... hot cereal.

Splinter had been gone one full day and Mikey knew he was in the clear to do this. He got in the cabinet and found a pan and filled it half way with milk, setting the pan on the burner he turned around to go get Leo.

"Hey Leo want some oat meal?"

He could hear his older brother jump up and start heading to him "you're not supposed to be using the stove!"

"yea, yea... but I am hungry and I don't want any more cold food! A growing turtle needs something good and hot!"

Leo looked past his brother at the small blue flame that was lit below the pan, "Mikey if Splinter ever finds out..."

"He wont! He wont be back for another few days so don't get your undies in a bunch!"

Mikey went back to the stove and began to stir the milk and butter together in the pan, when it was starting to steam he put the oats in and waited for them to cook.

Leo walked over, wanting to finish the argument, "Mikey, just hurry up! Cause if Splinter were to come home early..."

"Yea I know, he would send me to the Hashi... he would send you too... for not watching me closer! So ha! It's no wonder why Raph calls you Splinter Junior! All I have heard out of you since he left was 'Splinter says' 'Splinter does it this way' and what ever else you freakin come up with!"

Mikey wasn't watching the pan as it began to boil over, they both heard a hissing sound and looked down to see the contents of the pan boil over. With out thinking Mikey grabbed the towel and started to wipe up the mess, but got too close to the burner... and WOOSH the towel caught flame! Mikey throws the towel aside only to have it land next to Donatello's BO staff... and it instantly caught flame as well.

Both brothers looked at the staff in horror, Leo acted first and got the hose from the sink faucet and doused the burning staff and rag with water. The counter had caught a little of the flame but was quickly put out with water.

Leo turned to Mikey who was attempting to clean the stove off before anything else could happen.

Mikey stood up from cleaning the substance off the floor to meet his brother's gaze, he could tell Leo was mad.

"not only will you have to deal with Splinter but you will have to explain why Donnie's weapon is totaled and the kitchen is trashed!"

"it's not so bad, we can clean up before they even get back!"

"we? Who is this we stuff? YOU will be cleaning this mess up, I didn't make this mess so I am not cleaning it up."

"but Leo!"

"no buts Mikey, now I suggest you get started, I am going to go meditate."

Mikey rolled his eyes and got started cleaning.

It took him a little over two hours to clean the scorch marks off the floor and counters, cleaning dried oatmeal from the stove was more of a pain, especially with a headache that he didn't know had started.

After finishing up he went to go get Leo, half way to the dojo he darted to the bathroom and tossed his cookies.

"where did that come from? I felt fine earlier?" he asked him self, continuing on he found his older brother meditating.

Leonardo sensed his youngest brother and said without opening his eyes "the kitchen cleaned up?"

"yea... but there is a funny smell in there and I feel real sick."

"It's probably smoke shell for brains."

Leo decided he better go take a look, he stopped just beyond the dojo door and asked "how did you shut the burner off?"

"the flame was already out, I assumed that you shut it off."

Leo's eyes got wide and he cursed under his breath as he ran for the kitchen, he could smell the gas as he entered. He turned the burner off quickly and ran to get a fan.

He worked on getting the oder out of the lair, but he knew if anything sparked there would be another fire and this time they were have to get out fast.

Mikey came in with a couple of candles, "Hey Leo will these help?"

Leo looked over at him and shouted "GET THOSE OUT OF HERE MIKEY!"

Mikey jumped back and said "what? They are just candles."

"yea they are candles that can blow this place to kingdom come! Now get them outta here!"

Mikey frowned and backed out of the room, he went to Donnie's workshop, he saw the sign on the door: KEEP OUT! THAT PRIMARILY MEANS YOU MICHELANGELO!

Mikey grinned and opened the door, stepping in he set the two candles down and walked around, he saw Donnie's fan and picked it up.

The sign on the fan read: Not working properly.

Mikey figured it would be fine, so he took it to Leo after removing the sign.

Leo saw his brother come in with a fan and he told him "where did you find that?"

"the workshop."

"did it have anything wrong with it?"

"nope."

Leo had this feeling he shouldnt believe his little brother, just about everything that was taken to the workshop had something wrong with it.

"just put it over there next to the table, I will deal with it in a sec alright."

Leo opened the lair door and set the working fan up in the door way, turning it on he pointed the blowing air out into the sewers.

It took about two or three hours for the oder and the gas to leave the lair, in that time Leo had himself and Mikey stay in their room untill it was clear.

When they came out Mikey looked over at his big brother and said "well I am still hungry, want anything?"

Leo gave him the worst look he could come up with and said sharply "touch the stove again and I will have your hide!"

"Jeeze don't have to go all mommy dearest on me dude, I wont touch it."

Going into the kitchen Mikey didn't smell the gas anymore, not wanting to deal with Leo's wrath he just made himself a sandwich.

Thinking the worst was over Leo put the fan away and shut the door, not knowing that they had an unwelcome visitor. They had left the door wide open for a few hours, so they now had a visitor that they had not seen yet.

Leo looked in on his little brother and saw he was behaving him self, going back to take Donnie's fan to the workshop, on his way back he saw a paper laying haphazardly on the floor. Picking it up he saw what it said. He couldn't believe Mikey had lied to him, but he was glad he didn't listen to him.

Putting the note back in place he put it back where it belonged, going back to the kitchen he told Mikey "you told me nothing was wrong with that fan!"

"so I took the note off big deal, besides how do you know it wont work?"

"Mikey that is not the point..."

A growl was heard, the two turtles froze in place turning around slowly Leo saw to his horror it was a large white alligator! Its red, glowing eyes, and razor-sharp teeth were shining brightly as the creäture moved closer to the small turtles. Leo moved closer to his little brother, Mikey was trembling with fear as the giant animal loomed over them.

Leo acted quickly as the animal lunged and swipped at it with a knife that was on the counter near by, taken back the gator growled furiously at the young turtle.

Then it hit him, Leo turned to Mikey and said "ok what we have to do is hit his pressure point near his jaw. It should make him sleepy."

Mikey looked at his older brother with wide eyes and asked "his jaw is where the teeth are right?"

"yea..."

"ARE YOU NUTS!"

The large animal lunged at the two, Mikey flipped backwards and landed on the counter top, Leonardo ducked and rolled under the creature and came up from the side.

Leonardo leapt to the gator's head and put his thumb just above his jaw, unfortunately the effects were not immediate and the animal continued to go after Michelangelo. Leo hung on for dear life as the creäture started to give chase. It raised a massive paw up and swiped at the small turtle on his head. Leo tried to duck but a claw got his arm.

Winsing in the pain he pressed harder on the animals jaw line, within minutes that seemed like hours the animal collapsed in a heap on the floor.

Leonardo leapt off and Mikey ran to his side, "are you ok? It looked like he gotcha!"

Looking at his arm Leo said "its OK, how about you? Are you ok?"

"yea, but how are we gonna get this thing outta here?"

Leonardo thought about it and said "well we can use that large bed on wheels that Donnie has in his workshop. It sets low to the ground and we can push it out the door."

"Lets do it!"

It took the little turtles some time, but they finally managed to get the large gator on the gurney and out the lair door with out it waking up.

After getting the gurney back into the lair after pushing the gator off into the water some distance from their home Leonardo leaned against the door with a heavy sigh and said "no more adventures Mikey... I have had enough for one day."

"Dude we still have the rest of our lives! More is surely gonna come our way!"

Leo put a hand over his face and groaned, he was afraid his youngest brother was right, that this was only the beginning...

And Splinter never found out about either of the two incidents that his young sons endured while he was away.


	29. First Snow Experiance

**Firsts Chapter 29**

**A/N:** Here's another chapter of Firsts guys. To all who have read the original Authors note that was attached to this story, I decided to continue for as long as I keep receiving feedback for this story! **  
**

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Splinter had just gotten back from scavenging, snow fell off of his heavy coat as he took it off and put it on the hook by the door. Looking around at the quiet lair he noticed his sons, Leonardo was playing with Michelangelo quietly with some toys. Raphael was sitting on the couch dozing off, but Donatello was just standing in the doorway to the kitchen looking at his father.

"is something wrong my son?"

Seeing the curious look in his son's eyes.

Donatello looked up at his father and asked.

"what that?"

Splinter looked over at his coat and noticed the snow on the shoulder.

"are you talking about the snow on my coat?"

He saw the young 3-year-old nod his head.

Bending down he picked up his son and walked over to his coat, the snow was melting in the warm air but slowly.

"That is called snow my son."

He could see Donatello frown thinking hard.

"s-s-snow? Is it cold?"

"yes, it is very cold."

Turning to his other three sons he said kindly.

"would you all like to see what snow looks like?"

Leonardo and Michelangelo jumped up from where they were playing and listening and ran to their father. Raphael's head shot up and looked over at them. Jumping off the couch he shouted.

"we goin for a walk?"

Splinter smiled at his eldest and said.

"yes we are going for a walk."

After bundling his sons up he lead them out of the lair, Donatello's shoes he had developed holes in them from a growth spurt so Splinter carried him. They walked carefully as the sewers were ice-cold, and the ground was frozen. They walked to a near by storm drain where snow had collected from a recent snow storm.

He noticed how excited the little one's were, Michelangelo looked up at his father and asked.

"what this papa?"

Splinter smiled and told him.

" that is snow my son, it is frozen water that falls from the sky, its like rain only softer and takes a little more time to melt."

Mikey touched the snow with his mittened hand and watched as the white flakes stayed on his glove.

"it pwetty."

Leonardo stepped on it with his boot and laughed when it made an impression. Raphael used his hands to make a ball out of a clump of snow and said.

"look! I make ball!"

In saying he threw it at Leonardo and it busted against the back of Leonardo's coat. Leonardo laughed and threw the snow back at his brother, all three turtles were having fun in a snow ball fight.

Splinter looked at his third youngest and said.

"do you think your bare feet could handle the cold?"

Donatello looked into his father's brown eyes and said.

"I will try."

He knew Donatello got cold easily and sick even easier but he couldn't let the fun of the others torture him.

Placing his son on the ground he noticed Donatello didn't move at first, then a flying ball of snow hit the young turtle and he forgot about how cold the ground was and ran to play.

Splinter saw how much fun his sons were having and knew that this small bit of snow would make them happy for quite some time. He only wished they didn't live in the sewers, and that these young children could play in larger mounds of snow rather than this small one. But he could see that even this small amount was enough to make them happy.

He was so lost in thought that the ninja master didn't see the rough snow ball coming his way until it hit him. The turtles froze, Raphael looked worriedly up at his father as he had thrown that ball at Donatello and the ball missed and hit his father. Splinter smiled and said.

"now you know... this means war my son!"

The small turtles squealed in delight as their father joined in on the snow ball fight, they played until it started getting dark then they all went home. Splinter knew that this experience would always stay with his sons.


	30. First Christmas

**Firsts chapter 30**

**First Christmas**

**A/N: Due to popular demand and I believe what is written below is enough evidence that this story should continue.  
**

**I would first like to thank:**

all **61** of my reviewers that told me how much they loved this story and urged me to continue on and gave wonderful ideas for future chapters.

Thank you to the **28** followers who read this story with every new chapter I write.

And the** 30** people who favored this story thank you so much!

Love you all thank you so much.

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It was almost Christmas time, Splinter had never really celebrated Christmas when he was human, but now that things had changed. He was no longer human, he was living in America now, so he decided to start a new tradition. He would watch the humans as they bought toys for their little ones, have big trees on the top or back of their vehicles, lights all over the town, wreaths on every door and light post.

He got the idea just from watching the humans above ground.

So with his infant turtles who not all could walk yet, he put them in the room they shared with the baby gate up and instructed them.

"I will be back my sons, please do not knock down the gate again, stay in your room till I return."

Little Donatello looked up at him with big brown eyes and said the best he could.

"Otay Pa pa we good."

Splinter chuckled at the boys speech, he had only been speaking for a few weeks now and was doing remarkably well.

Splinter got his long coat on and pulled the hood up, carrying a satchel on his back he went to the streets. Though it was night time the City was lit up with multiple colored lights, and large green wreaths on every door and window he passed. People were laughing and talking, seeming to enjoy this time of year.

No one seemed to notice the cold, or the light bit of snow on the ground as they walked around in a hurry to get that last gift or two.

Splinter had managed to keep a hold of some of his money he had from when he was human, he kept it in a jar in the cupboard and would use it to by fresh food from the farmer's market for the baby turtles.

He found a small shop on the end of Bleaker Street it was an Antique shop, he has been in this building several times and knew the owner quite well.

Seeing that it was nearly closing time the owner started to close up shop, but paused when he saw a familiar figure come in.

"Ah, Splinter, it is so nice to see you. How are your boys doing?"

The nice man had no idea that his friend was in fact a rat and that his boys were turtles.

"they are doing well, Donatello has learned to talk since I have last been in here."

Kirby O'Neil smiled at the old rat and said.

"So what can I do ya for today?"

Splinter approached the counter and said softly.

"Well this is my sons first Christmas, I want to make it special. What would you recommend?"

Kirby smiled and said.

"How old are they now?"

Splinter smiled and said to him.

"they are now 5 months old."

"and one is talking? Wow they grew up fast!"

Splinter chuckled and said kindly.

"Yes, Donatello seems to be developing faster then his brothers."

Kirby told Splinter.

"well, my daughter is getting out of her tom-boy faze now, and she is done playing with toys or at least the ones that she has not played with in a while. Let me go upstairs and get the box, I was just going to take it down to the Salvation Army."

Splinter looked around at the trove of Antiques that were displayed around the room, He had been coming in here for the past four months now. Kirby has been kind to him all this time, giving him some baby food to start him off with, bottles and formula for when the turtles were very small.

And Kirby in the colder months gave him blankets and warm cloths for the children, as far as Kirby was concerned Splinter was an extremely poor man who was down on his luck with no job living on welfare with four babies.

Splinter didnt like deceiving his new found friend but he was afraid to give out too much information seeing as most people would have trouble with his looks.

Near the front window there was and old looking plastic tree, it stood about 5 feet tall and had clearly seen better days.

The sign above said 'Free' Splinter knew this was a sad looking tree but with the right decorations he could make this a beautiful tree.

He found several wooden toy tops that were around 3 or 4 dollars each, he picked those up and laid them on the counter along with some thread he found.

After several minutes Kirby came back downstairs with a large box in hand, he set it on the counter.

"fine how ever much of this stuff you want, what you don't choose will go to donation."

Splinter looked inside and found several toys for the boys to play with, he choose several items and put them in his satchel.

Kirby saw the tree next to Splinter and said with a smile.

"Splinter, I have a better tree then that."

Going to the small stair well behind the counter he came back with a six foot tree that was pre lit tree that was in a long box.

Kirby could see the worry in Splinter's eyes even though it was there briefly.

"Do not worry Splinter I will help you take it home."

Splinter's head shot up at that.

"But..."

Before Splinter could finish his sentence Kirby looked around for any other ears around and said.

"I know what you are Splinter."

Splinter froze.

"It's OK my friend, I found out a couple of months ago, your hood had flown off in the wind. I was a little shocked at first but I thought nothing of it. I am assuming your sons are mutants as well?"

Splinter nodded slowly and said.

"yes they are mutant turtles."

Kirby smiled and said softly.

"when I figured it out, I was not worried, you seem to have a genuine heart. So lets load this tree up along with these tops and get you home."

"but I don't live in a house..."

Kirby told him.

"Its a long walk with this bundle to the manhole cover, I saw you go down it about two weeks back. Don't worry I haven't been following you or even told a soul about you. Heck my own daughter doesn't even know, she saw you too but I told her it was a city worker."

So they loaded Kirby's van and drove to the manhole cover across town, Kirby asked Splinter.

"Do you need any help?"

Looking back, Splinter stood by the cover with his items in hand and said.

"It wouldn't hurt if you could help me down the ladder."

Kirby smiled at his friend and helped him carry his things down the ladder, once at the bottom he said.

"Splinter, I really think I should help you to your home. I don't want you to get hurt."

Looking at the other man he said to him kindly.

"But what of your family?"

Kirby smiled and said.

"My daughter is at a friends house and my wife passed away years ago, so I am free to help you."

Splinter smiled at the man and asked.

"How old's your daughter?"

Kirby smiled proudly and said.

"Just turned 13. If she ever met your sons she would probably fall in love with them. She loves babies."

The two fathers were silent for some time before Splinter spoke again.

"She would be frightened by our appearance..."

They reached the lair door and Kirby told him.

"only at first would she be afraid, but she loves all creatures big and small, she had a pet turtle a long time ago."

The two fathers went inside and quietly set their items near the tattered old couch. Kirby looked around and asked.

"Where are your sons?"

Suddenly a cry could be heard.

"They are in their room, that is Donatello crying, he does not like the baby gate being up."

Splinter went to the boy's room and saw Donatello perched up on the top of the baby gate with a pained look on his face.

"What is wrong my son?"

Picking his son up he saw Donatello's right hand was red and had just a little blood on it, upon further inspection he saw his son had a splinter in his hand. Taking his son to the kitchen he set him down on the counter and went about finding a set of tweezers to get the splinter out of his hand.

Kirby wandered into the kitchen and said softly startling the rat momentarily.

"Well I'll be a monkey's uncle... Which son is this?"

He walked over to the pair and saw the cause for Donatello's tears.

Splinter found the tweezers and came back to his second youngest.

"Donatello, he is upset because he has a splinter in his hand."

Kirby looked at it and saw how Splinter was digging into the child's skin. Donatello screamed in pain as Splinter broke the skin around the piece of wood embedid in the child's hand.

"Splinter, please stop, may I try something."

Donatello's hand was now bleeding a little more and he looked up with sad and tearful eyes at the human man that stood before him.

"Donatello, may I please have your hand?"

The small boy shook his head no and pulled his hand close to his body.

"Its OK, I wont hurt you child."

Slowly Donatello gave up the fight and let the human work. With in seconds Kirby had the splinter free from the child's hand.

"Thank you Kirby."

Kirby smiled and said.

"It's OK, you want to pull it out from the top."

"that was how my father taught me to remove a splinter... by digging at it and drawing it out by the bottom."

"Hurts more that way."

Splinter wrapped Donnie's hand with gauze and put a piece of tape over it then set the boy down on the floor.

"would you like to help me put the tree in the stand?"

"i would love too."

The two fathers with the help of an overly helpful, curious turtle managed to get the tree put in its stand.

Donatello looked up at the tree and said to his father.

"Wa, tat da da?"

Splinter looked down at his son and told him.

"It's a Christmas Tree my son."

"Tee? Why?"

Kirby smiled down at the curious little boy and knelt down to him.

"People put these in their homes every December and place presents below them."

Splinter went to retrieve his remaining children, he found them trying to climb the baby gate. The smallest turtle, Michelangelo, was looking up at his father with tears in his eyes.

"D! D! D!"

The small turtle could not speak but would often say his brother's first initial when addressing him.

Splinter took his two most active children off the gate and set them down before unlocking it and setting it aside.

"Michelangelo your brother is in the living room, he is safe I assure you."

The three little turtles crawled after their father as he lead the way to the living room, they froze when they saw a human man holding their brother. Raphael sat up and shouted at the man.

"NO! D! NO, NO, NO!"

Kirby looked to the small turtle on the ground to the one in his arms, he walked over and held a hand up to Splinter not to say a word. Kneeling down he said kindly to the frightened child.

"Little one..."

"Raphael."

Splinter said to him.

Looking up at his rat friend then back to Raph he said.

"Raphael, it is alright, I would never hurt your brother."

In saying he set the little turtle down.

Kirby stood and turned to Splinter who had moved to the tree and began to take a few ornaments that he had purchased and placed them on the tree.

"Splinter, I know an activity for the little ones that would be both fun and educational."

Splinter stopped and asked.

"What is that?"

Kirby walked over with the little turtles in toe and said to him.

"Something that my father and siblings and I used to do when I was a boy. We would pop some popcorn and sit around the living room taking a needle and thread and made a string of Popcorn and wrapped it around the Christmas tree and we made our own ornaments. That was probably the most memorable times I had as a child."

Splinter smiled but said to him.

"But I have no items to do this with?"

Kirby smiled at the old rat and said kindly.

"I will be right back."

The man left the lair, Splinter turned back to his sons and continued to decorate the tree with the little items he had bought. The little turtles helped as best they could by copying what they saw their father doing.

Kirby came back with a tin in hand and set it on the floor, he also brought with him some string and a needle.

The turtles crawled over to the tin and inspected the new item in their home, Kirby laughed when Michelangelo tipped it over and the sound of tapping could be heard as the contense was knocked around.

Raphael pounded his hands on the tin and found it made a drumming sound, Splinter smiled as his children explored this new item. After a few minutes Kirby knelt down and said.

"This is my Christmas present to all of you."

Opening the lid he reviled a tub of popcorn, Splinter knelt down on the floor beside Kirby and asked.

"How do you start?"

Kirby tied a knot at the end of the string and pierced the first kernel of popcorn and moved it down to the knot at the end.

All four turtles squealed in delight as what Kirby was doing, he picked up the next turtle that Splinter told him was Leonardo and had him sit on his lap. He showed the boy how to do it himself.

Splinter smiled at the determination on the little ones face as he put two or three popcorn on the string.

He followed suite and put Raphael on his lap and showed him the same way, after several times of showing him Raphael learned to do it him self. Cutting more string and tying it Splinter showed the remaining two turtles how to do the activity as well.

After about six strands were complete Kirby and Splinter stood up and walked over to the tree and wrapped the popcorn around it. The little turtles smiled proudly at the display of popcorn wrapped around the large tree in their home.

Smiling at how happy this made the small family of mutants Kirby said to them.

"I better get going, there is a satchel left out side your entrance, I don't know what is in it but there is something special for your family."

Splinter waited till his friend was gone several minutes before investigating the satchel. Inside he found four individual warm fleece blankets, one red, one orange, one blue and one purple. Splinter smiled and put the bag under the tree for his sons on Christmas morning.

_15 years later..._

Splinter smiled as he watched his now 15 year old sons sitting around the table in the kitchen making the age old tradition that Splinter and Kirby started so many years ago. His sons each had a string and were putting popcorn on them. Raphael looked up from what he was doing and asked.

"Splinta? When did we start this tradition?"

Splinter stood and thought back to when the turtles were mere babies and he said to his son.

"You were all babies when we started the tradition, a man I once knew taught me and all of you how to do this. And over the years we have continued it."

Mikey asked.

"Who was it?"

Donnie and Leo looked up curiously as well at their baby brother's question.

Splinter felt tears form in his eyes as he said.

"His name was Kirby O'Neil. He found out about us by accident one cold day in September, my hood blew off in the wind. But the thing is... he never told any one not even his daughter about us... he gave you all your first Christmas present, and that was those warm blankets that you have now. I gave you some toys I had found, out of every present that you got that first Christmas I think the only ones that you all still have to this day is Michelangelo still has the panda bear I found for him, Raphael still has the G. I. Joe I found, Leonardo still has the picture book I gave him even though its on a shelf now, and Donatello... the only one that doesn't have that item anymore..."

Raph looked between his purple brother to his father and asked.

"Why not? What was it?"

The brothers could see the distant look in the old rats eyes as he remembered.

"You were all nearly four years old... Kirby came down less and less to visit us, I found out that he was very sick. It was a brown stuffed teddy bear that Kirby had given him for his second birthday... Donatello carried it every where he went... just before Christmas when you were four I learned that Kirby had passed away... I dressed you all up and we went to the funeral, well Donatello insisted on taking his bear with him. I allowed it and we went, it was the day after Christmas and we stood out in the cold in the grave yard... after all of the family left it was just us, Donatello walked up to the coffin and put the bear on top. I asked him what he was doing, he looked up at me and told me sadly 'I just wanted to give him a special present from the heart, cause that is what Christmas is all about.'"

Leonardo, Raphael and Michelangelo looked at their brother in surprise as Donatello had his head bowed down, when he looked up at his family he had tears in his eyes.

"I remember that. I remember giving my beloved bear away that day, it doesn't matter what you give some one for Christmas just so long as it comes from the heart."

Splinter walked over to Donatello and placed a hand on his shoulder and said to him.

"I was so proud of you that day, I still am, that memory will last a life time, but nothing can compare to that first Christmas with Kirby. He gave us the gift that keeps on giving, he showed me that being a father was more then just raising a family. It was traditions that kept a family going and brought every one together and closer around the holidays."

The four brothers went to the tree after the last strand was done of popcorn and wrapped it around the entire tree. Over the years the turtles added ornaments to the tree, Michelangelo made a pine cone ornament, Raphael made paper trees, Donatello and Leonardo both worked together to make paper rings that went around the tree as well.

The first Christmas would forever live in the heart of an old rat that didnt know how to even celebrate the season. His life changed in more ways then one that year and to this day he will forever love and be proud of his sons as they carry on traditions...

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**A/N: and there you have it folks, the final chapter of Firsts... I felt this was a better ending then what I was going to originally do. **

**Merry Christmas!**


	31. First Easter

**A/N: **I know I ended Firsts, but my mom gave me a great idea for a first, I will also be doing one for Firsts and One Shots too. Only different... It will be a long One Shot about all four of the new turtle tots Aiko, Deangelo, Trixie and Jack.

**2003 TMNT.**

* * *

It was a cool spring morning when Splinter was heading back to the lair after being out most of the night scavenging. He learned of a tradition that humans do on a certain day every year, but it never fell on the same day. They called it 'Easter'. After he got supplies for their home he told his sons he had to go back out, they were only three years old but they were being good and were all in bed.

Splinter had no way of knowing what Easter was really all about, from what he saw it was about some person dressing up as a rabbit and handing out candy, and hiding eggs. If he had known the true meaning then he would have taught them.

Feeling pleased with his findings he headed back to the lair, he even got lucky and found some eggs that had been thrown out because they were cracked. Some were usable, he found food coloring as well.

Taking this all home he woke his children up, since the sun was up.

"Boys! Come to the kitchen please! I have a surprise for you!"

Easter was days away so he put the gifts he found up; he had found four chocolate Easter bunnies for his sons to enjoy.

The three little turtle tots came running in, Raphael took up the rear behind Michelangelo, then Donatello and Leonardo leading the way. They stopped at the table and Leonardo said happily.

"Yes daddy?"

Splinter smiled at them, he could tell they had been up for a while, or at least three of them; Raphael was leaning against the door frame trying to stay awake. He motioned for them to come to the table and he showed them what he brought.

"We are going to have some fun on Sunday morning, today is called Good Friday, it falls once a year but never at the same time. What we are going to do tomorrow is decorate eggs, then the Easter Bunny will come and hide them."

Donnie looked up at his father questioningly and asked.

"Why dad? We down in sewer? Why come here?"

Splinter wasn't for sure how to answer that, but he tried anyway.

"Well Donatello, the Easter Bunny didn't know about you four, that is why he never came before now. When I was topside I saw him, and he told me he was sorry that he didn't come sooner. So he told me to tell you boys to be expectantly good and he will bring you a special treat."

Their little eyes lit up at the sound of that, Mikey told everyone happily.

"Yes! Just like Santa! So that means RAPHIE has ta ba good or we get nofin from tha Bunny..."

Splinter smiled at them and said to his youngest son.

"Raphael will be good won't you my son?"

Raph was now wide away but scowling at his youngest brother, he looked up at his father and nodded saying.

"Yea, I be good boy."

Splinter took out some construction paper that he had gotten and told his son's.

"We will make decorations to set out around the lair today and tomorrow, you can put up as many decorations as you would like."

All four cheered and Splinter helped them get to work, he helped them cut out Easter eggs, Easter Bunnies, and shapes in general. It took all day Friday and most of the day Saturday for the small family to decorate their home.

Saturday evening Splinter gathered them once again and told them.

"We are going to decorate eggs for Easter my sons, I have set out colors for you to put on your eggs."

He had them all sit at the table and he had four coffee mugs sitting out each supporting a spoon; Leonardo sat before the blue dye, Raphael red (but his turns out more pink), Donatello purple, and Michelangelo orange (but turns out more yellow).

As the four got started he saw Donatello looking into Leonardo's mug.

"You may mix and match my sons, have fun, that is why I have plastic on the table."

The four beamed up at their father with wide grins and began to mix their eggs. Raphael found that the longer he left his eggs in the darker the egg got. So he put his egg into Leo's mug but the egg turned purple. Donatello put his in Mikey's and it turned a funky color; all four had fun and at some point the mugs got spilled onto the table. Splinter just laughed seeing how much fun his son's were having, he knew their life in the sewers was not easy, but he had to let them have fun. After all, they were just children.

"Raph! Top getting colors on me!" Mikey whined.

"Leo! I ain't a girl! Stop putting pink on me!" Raph would complain.

"Well stop putting yours on me then!"

Donatello helped his younger brother so he wouldn't be too messy with his and these two got along while the other two argued. But he couldn't help it when Raph would splatter Mikey and then the two would argue.

After all this was done it was time for them to go to bed, he gave them all baths since they got a lot of the food coloring on their skin, so the water turned colors.

Once he had them tucked into bed he waited until around 3am before going out and hiding the eggs, and set out the bunnies. He had also found some toys as well.

Not long after going to sleep did he hear the first one to wake, then, at the top of this little turtle's lungs he shouted.

"THE EASTER BUNNY WAS HERE! COME LOOK!"

Splinter sighed and rolled out of his bed, he had only gotten maybe one or two hours of sleep. Normally he would be more strict but he always gave in to the holidays.

He got out the baskets he had found with the fake grass and said.

"Good morning boys."

They all spun around each supporting their gift they got.

"Morning daddy."

"Mornin Dad."

Raphael and Michelangelo were too busy playing with their new toys to pay attention to their father.

Raphael was playing with a soft football, while Mikey was hugging a plush teddy bear in his arms.

Leonardo had a blue rabbit hugged close to him while Donatello had a purple one.

"My sons, I found this in my room this morning."

He set down the baskets, each with the turtle's colors.

They all got excited as they looked into their basket.

Raphael got a comic book.

Michelangelo got a game boy (game guy as he calls it).

Leonardo got a picture book.

Donatello, the hardest for Splinter to search for, the boy at such a tender age showed so much intelligence that it was hard to scavenge for him gifts. But he found him a puzzle that was supposed to have 60 pieces. It was the best he could do for his most intelligent son.

Donatello held the box in his hand and looked at the picture, he asked his father.

"What is that daddy?"

Splinter knelt next to him and said.

"That is the planets my son, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto."

Mikey was half listening to his father reading off the planets to his older brother and asked.

"Pluto? A dog is a planet?"

Splinter chuckled and said.

"No my son, Pluto the dog was named after the planet called Pluto."

Mikey made an O with his mouth and then said quickly.

"The eggs!"

Donnie perked up and said.

"Yea, we gotta find em."

The four jumped up but Splinter stopped them.

"Use your baskets my son, this way you can carry them."

"Hey Leo! Bet I find more then you!"

Leo looked over at his older brother and replied back.

"Not!"

Donnie walked around and found his eggs, while his two older, competitive, brother's bet each other on how many eggs they would find.

Raphael found two around the couch, Leonardo found one on Splinter's chair, Donnie found five between the TV and the front door to the lair. Mikey was searching but found none, Splinter saw him struggle, every time he would see one, one of his brother's would take it.

Splinter saw one by the stair case and tapped Mikey on the shoulder with his tail as not to draw attention to the others.

Pointing with his tail, Mikey jumped excitedly and raced for the stairs. He took the little red/pink egg and put it in his basket.

By the time the turtles were done, and a majority of the eggs were cracked by this point the family was hungry.

"Daddy, can we eat the eggs for breakfast?"

Leo looked up at his father questioningly.

Splinter lead them all to the kitchen and told them.

"Yes, but each of you can have two each for breakfast."

While eating Raph looked over at Leo and told him.

"Got more then you."

"Did not!"

"Did so!"

"Not!"

"So!"

Splinter silenced them and told the two feuding brothers.

"Actually my sons, the one with the most eggs... was Donatello."

Both older brothers responded with "Awe man!"

Splinter chuckled as he put the rest of the eggs in the carton leaving out 8 for his sons.

Splinter made this a tradition every year, he would find calenders and mark when Easter was so he could do this every year.


	32. First Independance Day

**A/N:** Well guys after much debate I have come to decide that 'Firsts' will continue on. 'Firsts and One Shots' will keep going as well, so it will be two categories for my stories. One for the tots and one for the teens. I know this will make some people happy that did not want to see this end. So without further ado here is chapter 32 of Firsts!

**And I have a FB group called: TMNT Fan Fiction, come join in on the fun of meeting fellow TMNT lovers. Share your stories and have fun!**

Disclaimer: Nope... Still don't own them!

* * *

2012 Turtles

* * *

Splinter was topside looking for supplies for the little 3 year old turtles when he sensed he was no longer alone. He hid behind a dumpster as he heard a father and son walk by talking about the upcoming holiday: Independence Day. He had heard of this time of year a couple years back and once his little ones were sound asleep he went to investigate. He smiled at the memory and knew the little ones would love the bright lights. They seemed frightened at loud sounds when they were just babies, but now he had Michelangelo, constantly dragging out a spoon and a pan, making 'music', as he put it. Raphael, who had also started to show an appreciation for loud noises, would slap his hands on the table in conjunction to Michelangelo's beat. Donatello was always banging on some metal object trying to either put it together or take it apart. So he knew they could handle fireworks now.

He found that the date was only the 3rd of July, as Leonardo just celebrated his birthday the day before. He smiled and thought about a wonderful idea but wasn't sure if it would be too risky bringing the small children topside to see the display that would occur the following night. After finding the supplies he was looking for he scavenged around and found some old clothing that he was sure would fit the little turtles.

Once below ground he headed back home, when he got there he noticed Michelangelo was wide awake and sitting on the couch trying to get the TV to turn on.

"Michelangelo? What are you doing up?"

Mikey jumped at the sound of his father's voice and looked over at him.

"I no tired daddy... I wanna be up."

Splinter shook his head and told him.

"Well then, you can help me put supplies away then, come along my son."

With a groan Mikey climbed down off the couch and followed his father to the kitchen where he set his large scavenging bag down on the table. Father and son spent the next half hour putting food away, when they got to the bottom of the bag Mikey asked his dad.

"What this? Why this stuff in there?"

Splinter smiled and told his youngest son.

"I will tell you all in the morning what these clothes are for, but for now, you must return to bed."

Mikey groaned and protested. "Buuuuutttt dadddyyy!"

Splinter frowned and said.

"Go to bed Michelangelo or else."

Mikey's eyes grew wide, he knew what 'or else' meant so he hotfooted it back to his room he shared with his three older brothers.

Donatello stirred in his sleep as he felt his little brother climb back into bed.

"Mikey? Where you go?"

Michelangelo whispered to him.

"Daddy has up to somethin'! He gots clothes in his bag!"

Donnie frowned and put a finger to his mouth and said. "Shhh, don't wake Raphie...'member what happened last time?"

Mikey snuggled next to Donnie and dozed off not long after.

The next morning Splinter came into the turtles' room to check on them, he smiled when he saw them all sleeping soundly.

"My sons, it is time to wake up."

A groan could be heard from a couple of them, but the other two just laid still.

"Donatello, Leonardo come on my sons, wake up, it is time for breakfast."

Splinter thought it was funny how at the mention of food all four would miraculously be wide awake, but any other time they were difficult to wake up. He rolled his eyes and gathered the little ones to the bathroom before taking them to the kitchen. He learned that if he did not take them there first then there would be accidents later.

Once in the kitchen he sat them all down and served them some bagels he managed to find along with some milk. He had yet to get the stove working yet or he would have fixed something more. While the little ones ate Splinter told them.

"My sons, just before dark tonight we are going topside."

Four wide eyes looked up at him Leo asked quickly.

"Really? Why daddy? What up there?"

Splinter smiled and told them.

"It is the fourth of July my sons, what happens today is the humans shoot off what is called fireworks. They put out loud sounds and beautiful lights in the sky."

Splinter could see they seemed excited about the idea as they began talking to themselves about the pending night.

While he had been topside he found a perfect place to take them, it was secluded and he saw some fireworks in the distance going off so he knew they could watch them there. No humans seemed to be around.

All day long the turtles were bouncing off the walls excited about going topside that night, none of them wanted to take naps that after noon and eating supper was nearly a joke as they could not sit still for nothing.

Splinter decided to get them dressed close to sundown, so that way he could take his time at getting them ready. This was also their first time since they were babies at going topside.

Once he had the little ones ready he gathered them all together, or tried to, as they were all extremely excited.

"Daddy? What we see up there?" Michelangelo asked in an excited voice.

"Dad! Leo's not letting me do this by myself!" Raphael complained loudly.

Splinter sighed and said.

"Leonardo, allow your brother to learn on his own how to fasten a button. Michelangelo, we will see bright colors in the sky."

The most silent one, Donatello, stood silently by the door; Splinter smiled at the boy's patience. After settling the boys down he had them hold each other's hand as well as his as he lead them out of the lair and to the secluded spot to watch the display.

Along the way he described what the fireworks would look like, Mikey was jumping up and down with excitement as they walked along the tunnel. Splinter helped his children climb up the ladder and got them rounded up in the ally. Looking around amazed, they saw the sky already lighting up with bright lights. Splinter smiled at their reactions and said to them.

"Come my sons, we must hurry."

After gaining their attention back he lead them to the secluded place in the park he had found, he could still hear people talking but they were a long ways away from them. Laying out the blanket he had brought the four mutant turtles sat down to watch the display that was soon to start.

The sky had a purple hue to it as the sun set, but as soon as it was completely dark a loud crack could be heard and then a BOOM! The sky lit up in bright green lights. The little turtles had gasped in fright at first but were engrossed in the bright web of lights that were in the sky. As the loud booming and cracks filled the night air so did the sounds of childrens' laughter as the four little turtles enjoyed watching the sky light up with arrays of colors.

Mikey looked over at their father as the display died down and asked.

"When they gonna do again daddy?"

Splinter smiled down at him and told him gently.

"Next year they will. Did the four of you like that?"

They all raised their fists in the air and shouted.

"YES!"

He laughed despite himself and watched as they played in the grass while the last of the fireworks lit up the night sky, this was a memory that would last a life time...


	33. Please Read

I apologize for my absence from writing TMNT stories for so long. But after a long talk with a friend of mine, I have come to realize I do not suffer from just writers block, but also burn out. I wrote too much too quickly and burned my self out.

With that said, I have chosen to step away from writing TMNT stories but I plan on coming back to finish what I started after this hiatus is over.

I sincerely apologize to all my followers who love my stories. I will be back guys, I am just going on hiatus for a little while.

I will be writing tho just not TMNT, if you can't already tell I am now writing Power Ranger stories but limiting it to the early seasons or season 12. Some of these will be posted on my back up account: rangerfanforever.

Please know its no ones fault but my own for the burn out and writers block. I just got over excited and wrote too much at once. Taking on 4 stories at once is draining...

**Firsts**\- will continue occasionally during the hiatus when the mood strikes me.

**Firsts and One Shots**\- may continue I have not fully decided yet.

**After The Blaze**\- will continue, but when the hiatus is over completely. For this story the writers block began after the season 3 episode that showed the turtles going into Yoshi's past before and during the fire. This is when the writers block started for this story.

**A Father's Love**\- will also continue after the hiatus. Since there is only one or two chapters left I will try and at least work on the chapters and may post them to finish it.

If any one is interested in reading my Power Ranger stories I have some on this account, but will have most future ones on rangerfanforever.

I have one story that has been 20 years in the making, when it's done I should be over the burn out and ready to continue TMNT.

**With that said, thank you for reading and following my stories and please be patient I will be back!**


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